


I'm Sorry Jazz Can't Be Reached at This Time

by silenthuntress72



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Character Death, Cuddles, Drama, Family, Gen, Jazz (Host), Jazz loves Wi-Fi, Loss of Parent(s), Memories, Mess with Cassetticons and Soundwave will murder you, Music, Original Character(s), Orphans, Other, Protectiveness, Recovery, Wi-Fi is baby, dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27626447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silenthuntress72/pseuds/silenthuntress72
Summary: Jazz, the fun and mysterious Second of the Autobots and commander of the special forces, has a secret. Like a MASSIVE one that no one, not even Optimus or Red Alert knows about. The only one he can trust after leaving the Autobots is none other than Soundwave. Can the stoic Decepticon save the mech from his past or will he lose him forever to them?
Relationships: Jazz/Soundwave (Transformers)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Song for chapter  
> https://youtu.be/u2VXvM6Iwcg
> 
> Yes, I will be posting music with each chapter lmao

* * *

Chapter 1

The pain of the memories was back stronger than ever. It started as jealousy whenever he saw them with their Hosts, ranging from being ejected from their decks or to the comfort. He missed that closeness, the bond that no one but their kind could understand, and he hated that he couldn’t have that feeling ever again. Sure, some would say to establish a bond with either Soundwave or Blaster, but they were at war, and he couldn’t afford to tell everyone the truth. That he was-

“Jazz, hello Earth to Jazz,” Sideswipe’s servo waving in front of him pulled the black and white Polyhexian’s face, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“What was that, Sides?” Jazz was trying to stop himself from watching Blaster fuss over Eject after he had fallen. He wanted someone to fuss over him like that again, but that was never going to happen again.

“I was asking how patrol was. Are you okay? You seem distracted.” The red Lambo twin was trying to stay in view of the visored mech, but he just looked uninterested in the conversation. “Do I need to go get Ratchet?”

Jazz shook his helm as he gave a fake smile to get the frontliner off his back. “Patrol was fine like red wine. Ah, should get clock some recharge ‘fore Prowl gets mad.” He didn’t even bother keeping up his accent. Not when he was missing his old life, the more he watched Blaster chase after Steeljaw when he took off with Ironhide’s blaster in his mouth. The saboteur left the rec room without even acknowledging the fact he accidentally bumped against Optimus. The mech locked himself in his quarters, plopping on his berth with a sense of loss. His visors flickered offline, and his chest plate popped open before a small turquoise, and teal accented mech crawled out of the shell of Jazz. He had a pair of dark blue visors, a white mask covering his mouth, a couple of audial fins on the sides of his helm with two thinner antennae on the top of his helm, and a pair of long winglets. On the center of his flat chest plate was an emblem that looked like three bright green arches above a single dot. He looked at the shell as emotions finally bubbled to the surface. His small arms wrapped around the mech’s arms as he cried softly.

He kept mumbling, sorries and I miss you’s. None of them knew of his proper form, and he didn’t plan on telling them, knowing they would start treating him as an anomaly. Jazz wasn’t his name; that was the name of his Host, the mech his friends have known him as. The shell was a perfect replica of his Host, though no one knew that. None of them have met the real Jazz, or they would have asked about his Cassetticons, but they didn’t. And since this was just a highly modified version of his Host, Ratchet didn’t even see any of his actual coding thanks to having an altered version of his coding saved for medical scans.

“Why did you have to go? You should have run and not protect me. I want you back. I miss you so much, _Jazz_.” He touched the face of the replica of his Host. He loved his Host like how he knew Blaster’s cassettes loved him. It was like how Ratchet and Wheeljack loved the Dinobots. That deep understanding of each other’s hopes and dreams, fears, and worries, and he was never going to find that connection again. He didn’t know how much longer he could live without a Host, but he knew it wasn’t going to be long before his coding took over, and he started projecting for Hosts to accept him into their fold.

The smaller mech had to get away far enough not to be picked up by either Soundwave or Blaster. He wanted to be with Jazz, wherever that was. His visors offlined as he cuddled closer to the shell, wishing it was his Host that he was cuddling with.

_“What’re ya doin’ up here, silly apeoid?” Jazz picked up the small visored mech from the shelf that was just the right height to look outside the circular window. He tickled the smaller mech under his neck, getting him to squirm and laugh._

_“I wanted to watch the rains. Do you think it’ll stop soon so we can go outside? You promised that we’d go out and explore Staniz.” The turquoise mech was carried into the small prepping area. He loved watching his Host focus so hard when making their Energon._

_“Dah moment dah rains are done, we will go outside. Now my Lil’ apeoid, is there anythin’ ya wanna do while we wait out dah rain?” Jazz gave his Cassetticon the smaller cube of Energon. Jazz owned his music store and did small DJing gigs on the side, but it wasn’t enough income to increase their little family._

_The small Cassetticon nodded enthusiastically. “Can we watch holovids?” His winglets and four antennae twitched when he was picking up something on his sensitive radar. He jumped down from the counter as he hid behind the island with a whimper. Jazz knew exactly who it was, and he sighed with dread. He opened the drawer near his Cassetticon, pulling out a small box and going to the door just before the door was buzzed._

_“Ah, right on time, Jazz. It’s that time again, pay up, or I’ll have to get nasty.” A dark brown and light blue mech towered of Jazz. The Polyhexian shoved the box at the tank, not liking his presence any more than his Cassetticon did. “Oh, don’t be like that. I only pushed down your brat cause he meddled in something it didn’t understand.”_

_“Wi-Fi wasn’t doin’ anythin’, but wantin’ tah be with meh. Now, Ah paid for this deca-cycle, leave.” Jazz growled as he shifted his weight to shield his Cassetticon from view. The tank curled his digit around the sneering Polyhexian before laughing and leaving with a mocking wave goodbye. Once the door was sealed in front of the visored mech, he pressed his helm against the door. He vented hard. A small servo wrapped around a few of his digits got his attention. He smiled down at the smaller mech, “it’s okay, my Lil’ apeoid. How about dat holovid?”_

_“Yeah!”_

“Jazz? Jazz!? Jazz, are you okay? Red Alert, unlock his door.” The sound of Optimus’ worried tone caused the Cassetticon to sit up at lightning speed.

“Wait!” He crawled inside the shell and scrambled out of the berth. He fell when his legs got tangled in the blankets. “Hold on! Frag stupid blanket.” After freeing himself from the blanket, he opened the door with a fake smile. “Sup Prime, Red?”

Optimus looked behind his friend, seeing the blankets all over the place and then the fluorescent blue stains on his chest plate. “Jazz, are you okay? Sideswipe said you were acting odd before you left, and you kept calling out your name in your recharge.”

“’m fine, Prime. Just had a rough couple days.” Jazz flashed a smile at the two mechs, “hey ya mind if Ah go for a Lil’ R and R off base at dah end of dah month?”

“I don’t see why not. Just be sure to put in the request form in on time this time for Red Alert’s sake.” The Prime teased the glaring security officer.

Red Alert tapped his ped with a defensive cross of his arms, “excuse me for having to completely rewrite the patrol shifts to prevent a glitch! If Jazz had just put in the request on time, then I would have plenty of time to inform everyone.” He looked at the visored mech with a sneer, “I expect that request on my desk by third shift tomorrow.”

“Aight, Red.” Jazz waving to the retreating mech as he stomped off. He nibbled the inside of his cheek plate before stopping to look up at his commander with a curious expression. “Hey Prime, Blaster hasn’t started tah act odd, has he?”

Optimus hummed in thought but ultimately shook his helm, “Not that I have noticed. Not unless you count him scolding Steeljaw for thinking Ironhide’s blaster was an acceptable chew toy.” The two laughed before finally leaving Jazz’s quarters, heading for the front of the ARK. “Have you turned in your report? You know Prowl is going to hunt you down for it if you haven’t done that yet.”

“How does one make a full report on starin’ at a river and some trees for four hours? Ah’ll work on it later. Whoever said Cons were spotted there was clearly on some strong Energon, cause there was not even a sign of humans in dah area.” He shrugged slightly despite the amount of struggle it took to lift his arms. It was time to do maintenance before He couldn’t even get out of the frame. “Any other jobs ya got for meh ‘fore Ah go on vacation?”

“None that haven’t been already given out.” The Prime decided to question the stain on his chest. “So, what happened here?” He pointed to Jazz’s chest plate. The Polyhexian looked down, and his face heated up in embarrassment. “Did someone hurt you?”

The visored mech quickly waved his servos and chuckled nervously. “Naw, Ah must’ve hurt myself in stasis. It’s fine, OP. Well, Ah think Ah’m gonna go for a Lil’ drive. Gotta make Prowler work for my report.” Jazz laughed before saluting at his commander and taking off. He needed to find someplace to make the repairs before something terrible happened. The Polyhexian went to one of the many caves special forces had investigated and used as secret caches. Of course, no one outside his team knew of their existence, which lowered the chances of any of the regular team finding him. He looked around before slipping through the small entrance; for a mech with a predominant chest plate, it would be a tight squeeze, but for anyone smaller or flat-chested, the opening was no problem. The cave was large enough to fit a couple of agents in either a prone or a hunched over position. They had stored a few cubes of Energon, tools, extra weapons, and even emergency beacons.

Jazz sat in the middle of the cave and turned on the few lights that they managed to squeeze inside. He pulled whatever he thought he needed closer to him before lying down and disengaging from the shell. The Cassetticon looked down at the body in thought, touching the visors with a shaky servo. “Just a bit longer, _Jazz_ , and then we can be together again.”

 _Why do ya want tah die so much, Wi-Fi? Ya got friends and family, a life, and dat freedom tah be whatever ya want._ The Cassetticon looked up to see Jazz sitting across from him with a sad expression on his face.

“ _Jazz_ , you’re… no, you can’t be here. You’re just a figment of my imagination.” Wi-Fi quickly looked down to avoid looking at his old Host. The black servo nudged his chin back up, and a knowing smile was on his lips.

 _Ah, don’t want ya tah have done all dis fightin’ just tah die. Ah protected ya so ya could have a second chance at havin’ a life outside of Staniz. We will be together again, but not yet._ Jazz cupped the blue face as he leaned closer. _Oh, my Lil’ apeoid, don’t cry. Ah, have never lied tah ya, have Ah?_

“No, but there’s only two Hosts here. I know it should be an obvious choice to choose Blaster, but-” Wi-Fi started keening over the shell.

 _Yer spark will know. It’s okay, tah grieve ya know. Ah miss ya every sol, but Ah know yer in safe servos._ Wi-Fi shuttered his visors when Jazz went to press their forehelms together. He looked down at the shell before throwing himself across the shell, bursting into tears as memories of that day came hurdling back. “I want my Host back.” He leaned against the body with his knees pulled to his face as he cried softly. His antennae twitched when he heard the sounds of jets flying overhead. The Cassetticon gasped as he hurriedly turned the lights off and hid to prevent catching the light that bled into the cave. There was a long stretch of no movement, afraid that the slightest movement would cause a giant red arrow would say ‘hey, someone’s here look here!’.

Wi-Fi covered his chest when the dull green lights started rippling. He silently pleaded for the connection to not establish. He apparently couldn’t catch a break and be alone for even a moment. There was the infamous sound of transformation sequences being activated and three someone’s landing nearby. Looking down at his chest caused Wi-Fi to rush over to the stash of emergency beacons, ready to press it if they didn’t leave.

“Are you sure you’re not just glitching from that beating Megatron gave ya this morning?” Wi-Fi knew right away that this was only the coneheads, giving him a bit of relief. Even in his actual form, he could handle them.

“I heard beeping on my comms.” That would be Dirge sounded perplexed. Wi-Fi quietly chuckled because he doubted Dirge knew how to spell perplexed. “It stopped when I accepted this weird popup, and- Woah, I didn’t realize you could human radio stations all the way out here!”

Wi-Fi groaned into his knees when he realized the connection was established, but at least the coneheads were too dumb to realize that he was the one that was producing the boost in the signal. Wi-Fi figured they were too busy gushing over the radio stations that he could crawl back into his shell without drawing attention to himself. As he crawled back to the shell, his servo accidentally brushed against something, and it went bouncing across the floor. He winced and stood completely still.

“Hey, did you hear that?” Wi-Fi saw a flash of dark blue walk past the small entrance. Outside the cave, Thrust and his trine looked around to find the origin of the sound that Dirge and Ramjet swear didn’t hear. “I’m not crazy! I heard something around here.”

“It probably was a mouse or whatever. Let’s just get back before Starscream starts yelling at us.” Ramjet grumbled. Wi-Fi sat down slowly as the world around him seemed to stand still. Even as the coneheads left the area, he couldn’t get himself to move. He didn’t know if the special forces training told him to remain still or fear being seen that prevented him. After praying to Primus for a good long while, Wi-Fi finally crawled back over to the shell and carefully opened the chest plate for him to climb inside.

The Cassetticon knew _Jazz_ was right. He had a chance to live a life that didn’t involve Staniz, and he has two potential Hosts that could get him back to Cybertron once the war ends. And with a whole month left before his coding activated, it gave him time to think. He sat up slowly and looked at the black servos in front of him, wishing he would online back in their home in Staniz with _Jazz_ telling him it was just a bad memory reflux. He remembered how his Host would wrap them both up in a thermal blanket, how _Jazz_ would hold him close and sing to him softly. Wi-Fi put everything away before carefully climbing out of the cave. He started moving his joints to make sure that they were working. His servo went to his neck to find the voice modular that was hidden behind the neck cables.

Sure, Wi-Fi had millions of years to mourn the loss of _Jazz_ , but he never had a proper moment to mourn, and now in the position, he’s in, it’s even harder to get a klik to himself without someone wanting to vent to him or the Decepticons to cause trouble. It wasn’t like losing a friend, like the hundreds of ones he lost throughout the war, but losing someone, you learned to depend on and was supposed to be there for you until deactivation, the pain was different. He didn’t even have time to mourn after Staniz was left in ruins. The Cassetticon didn’t know how much longer he could ignore his needs, his desire to have a Host. When the Autobots onlined from that four million long power nap, the first thing he wanted to do was find his Host for comfort, but then reality came crashing down. He decided to walk back to base. He just wanted a moment to reminisce.

_“Welcome tah Soundscape, what kinda jams are ya lookin’ for?” Jazz was standing by a shelf full of music while organizing the new stock that had just arrived cycles ago. A group of young femmes walked in with awestruck looks in their optics at the bright neon lights hanging from various points on the ceiling. A small sound booth was towards the back of the store. Instruments from all over Cybertron were mounted on the walls or placed carefully on shelves that lined the floor. The Polyhexian was very proud of his little store; it was his escape from reality._

_“Oh, woah, the guys were right. You must pay a lot of shanix for that signal booster!” One of the femmes looked at Jazz with excitement in her optics. “I can listen to the Towers music from here!”_

_The visored mech looked confused very briefly before the realization hit him, and he laughed with a shake of his helm. “Oh, did Wi-Fi connect with yer comm channels? Ah’m sorry, Ah told dat Mechlin’ tah not do dat. Wi-Fi, where are ya?” There was a series of giggles that came from behind the femmes. The four femmes saw Wi-Fi standing behind there with his small audials antennae flickering, and they all awed as he ran for Jazz. “Wi-Fi, we talked about boostin’ without permission.”_

_“Is he a Cassetticon?” One of the other femmes looked at the turquoise mech with an excited grin. “I have never seen one in person.”_

_Jazz sat him on the counter as he smiled at the group. “He sure is and my Lil’ helper.”_

_“Can I help you find music? We have really good music!” Wi-Fi turned halfway to face them; he leaned against his servos with his winglets flicking excitedly. “I’m good at finding music. I know the store like… like the back of my servo!”_

“Jazz, can you hear me? Give me a sign that you can hear me.” A bright light was rushing across his visors, and a faint voice drew Wi-Fi from his memory. It took a couple of restarts of the visors before he was finally able to see Ratchet looming over him with a light in his servo. “I don’t know, Prowl. All of my readings are saying he is in perfect condition. The only thing left to do is check his mental health. Jazz, come on, you idiot, tell me you’re in working order.”

Wi-Fi groaned as he tried to turn away from the light. “Ah’m back? What happened?” He forced himself upright. His optics landed on Prowl, who was standing too close to him, which was odd. “Uh, hi Prowl, do Ah got chipped paint?”

The Praxian said nothing as he stepped away from his friend. He looked like he was thinking a little too hard about something for Wi-Fi’s liking. “You were gone all night; we sent Hound and Huffer to find you. They found you unconscious in the middle of the desert and mumbling. What happened?”

The Polyhexian looked at the medic and enforcer in dreaded silence. He knew it was only the beginning if he crashed. It was only a matter of time before the crashes were more frequent, and his coding started activating. “Ah was jumped by dah coneheads. Last thing Ah ‘member was Starscream callin’ ‘em back.”

“Is that all that happened? You don’t show any signs of being attacked.” Ratchet started doing a more in-depth search for a sign of a fight. His servo turned Jazz’s helm, and something caught his attention. “That doesn’t belong there.” The medic pulled out the voice modular and looked at it in confusion. “What the heck.”

The saboteur yelped before grabbing his modular out of the medic’s servo. He quickly fled as he placed it back where he put it. Ratchet and Prowl’s shouting triggered him to run faster. As he ran faster, he accidentally barreled into a poor mech and fell on top of him. His optics landed on Blaster, and his spark jolted when his coding started triggering. “Host.”

“Wha- Jazz, Ah know Ratchet is scary, but he can’t be dat bad.” Blaster pushed Jazz off, but something in the communications officer started receiving signals of a distressed Cassetticon. Naturally, he checked his own, but Jazz retreating even faster caused the mech extreme confusion. The medic and enforcer stopped to help Blaster up. “What’s up with Jazz?”

“We’re trying to figure that out. Jazz, get your tailpipes back here! Geez, has he gotten faster?” Ratchet put his servos to his knees as he let his systems cool down. ::Telatraan, close the ARK doors. Someone stop Jazz; don’t hurt him.::

::Got it.:: Several Autobots answered at once.

The visored mech danced around oncoming Autobots, transforming in and out of his alt mode, flipping and sliding to avoid being caught. He didn’t want to be captured, didn’t want them to hate him for what he’s done. Wi-Fi gasped when he saw the doors sliding shut, but instead of accepting his fate and stopping, the Cassetticon pushed himself even harder. The Autobot launched himself for the closing gap, a chunk of his right shoulder was ripped off, and he layed there for a moment to get his bearings. He pushed himself onto his peds with his gaze going to the sealed ship, knowing that there was a cool-down period before they could be opened again.

 _Holy scrap, I did it. Why did I run away? They’re my friends; they would have understood. Why did I not ask Blaster for help? He was right there, but I ran._ Wi-Fi vented hard before tearing his insignia off and took off for the sky to make it harder to track. He didn’t know where he was going, but it would be far away from the ARK. Something in him told him that being near his team, his _family_ was not safe, and Wi-Fi’s instincts have never led him astray. He just needed a month without any interruptions, given Wi-Fi was going to go about it the getting away without angering anyone, but crashing sent the mech in a spiral of stress. The Polyhexian landed in a forest, putting him into a state of confusion on how long he had been flying. He looked around with a frown on his lips, but a relieved smile grew when the thought of no one ever finding him remained at the forefront of his processor.

“We’re alone. Finally.” The monochrome mech mindlessly walked deeper into the forest until the dark sky forced him to stop for the night. He sat against a tree with roots halfway exposed. Wi-Fi climbed out of the shell to look at it with concern. He clicked his glossa at the missing shoulder plating, “aside from your shoulder damaged; it’s all cosmetics. You don’t think I’ll broadcast this far out, will I? I should have asked Eject and Rewind, but I guess we’ll know by the end of the month. Those two are really good friends; I think you and Blaster would have had a good time together. Between the three of us, we could have started a band or make music. You would have enjoyed Earth music; I named you… me after one of Earth’s music genre, Jazz. Though we both know you would have liked the techno and rock music the most. You also would have liked their instruments. Oh! They have this thing called a bass guitar; it makes these nice sounds! I recorded some from the last concert I took this human named Spike to.”

Wi-Fi crossed his legs as he looked up at the shell with his winglets flicking with excitement. “When I was getting my diplomas on communications, I didn’t think I would be a Prime’s right-hand mech and running a whole department. If you were here, would you be in the position I am? It’s not my fault that I’m built like this. I try hard not to boost signals and establish connections like you taught me, but it’s hard. Would you have gone with the Autobots because of our optic color, the Decepticons, to fight against the Council? I know deep down in my spark that you aren’t evil enough to be Con, but you also didn’t believe in the Council. Then again, Ratchet was a senator and left… sort of to become a medic, and then Shockwave was a senator before the Council performed empurata on him.”

 _Why’d ya run from ‘em if ya like dah Autobots so much?_ Wi-Fi looked to his right and saw Jazz sitting cross-legged beside his Cassette. He was smiling at him with a tilt of his helm. _Ah, would have gathered all of our things and taken ya as far away from dah war. Ya were too young and too innocent for it._

“I don’t know why I ran. I just… they wouldn’t have understood why I pretended to be you. Maybe the other Cassetticons would have, but not the team. They would have lost all trust in me. Would they have treated me differently if they knew the truth from the beginning?” Wi-Fi looked back at the shell. The wire-like antennae twitched when the roar of airplane engines flew overhead. “It’s okay; it’s not one of us.”

 _What about dah Prime or dah Praxian dat is fond of ya? Ah’m sure they would have understood. Ya can’t lie tah meh or yerself my Lil’ apeoid, we both know dah truth on why ya ran. Now ya just have tah believe in it._ Jazz moved to the shell. His servo hovered over the visors as a chuckle escaped him. _My favorite pair, ya know Ah still remember dah sol ya gave it tah meh—my second favorite gift. Ya were dah first._

“Optimus would be disappointed in my lack of trust but would have respected my choice. Prowl? I don’t know how he would even react now, let alone back then.” Wi-Fi’s spark was hit with a twinge of sadness at the comment. “You were upset that I took the neighbor’s crystal to make them, but it was worth the time out.” The turquoise mech sighed hard as he looked up at the sky. “Was it scary?”

 _What was?_ The Polyhexian sat beside the shell of himself. _Protectin’ ya from dat buildin’? It was, Ah was afraid Ah didn’t get ya away in time._

“You know, the one thing that made me upset the most about Staniz’s fall was the fact no Autobots showed up until three solar cycles after it fell. The Decepticons had a whole base built by the time they showed up.” Wi-Fi dipped his helm with the two audials on the sides of his helm tilting back. “I just know if they had been there during the initial attack, you would have survived, and I wouldn’t be alone.”

 _Are ya sayin’ ya blame ‘em for my choice in protectin’ ya?_ Jazz tilted his helm with a sad smile.

“No… yes… I don’t know. I don’t blame them for Staniz; that is all the Decepticons. I suppose I blame their slow response. No one even _talks_ about Staniz when our human friends ask about the cities. And it makes me mad! It’s like they don’t care about _our_ home. Wouldn’t you be mad at them?” Wi-Fi’s antennae buzzed in frustration. “Sure, Staniz was a sketchy place to live, but it was just as important as stupid Iacon or stupid Praxus!”

 _If ya cared so much about Staniz, why have ya never talked about it?_ Jazz folded his servos in his lap. The Polyhexian looked up at the sky with a relaxed hum. _It’s pretty out. Not as pretty as Cybertron’s, but Ah can see why ya like it so much._

“I guess when I think of Staniz, it reminds me of you, and then I think about all of our time together.” The Cassetticon gave a half chuckle as he agreed with his Host. “Earth has its moments. I remember when you took me to the meteor shower show in the Purex Flats. It was so pretty. It was the longest you allowed me to stay up. Did you know meteor showers aren’t common here? It disappointed me when I found that out. I want to capture an image of an Earth meteor shower.” He sighed happily before crawling over to the shell and curled against it. “Can you play me our song?”

 _Sure Lil’ apeoid._ Jazz’s voice was a whisper before a soft Cybertronian tune played in the darkness. Wi-Fi slowly slipped into stasis with a smile on his face. He felt that he could recharge safely for once in a million years. A blanket of warmth and comfort filled his spark as he finally fell into stasis. _Sweet refluxes Wi-Fi._

_Jazz was holding Wi-Fi on his shoulders as they walked through the busy streets of Staniz. They had decided to close up shop early and return home before curfew started. Curfew was a new thing thanks to the war, but Jazz kept on trucking along for his and his symbiont’s sake. “Jazz, can we stop at one of the shops and get some treats? I was perfect and helped a lot today!”_

_“Okay, okay, since ya were a good helper today, Ah’ll let ya pick out one treat.” Jazz laughed as quickly scanned the road before hurrying across the street. They went inside their favorite shop, greeted by a relieved shop owner. Due to the war, business for everyone was slow, so any business was thrilling. The Host mech sat his symbiont down and chatted with the owner while Wi-Fi scanned the colorful case._

_“He gets cuter every time you bring him in. How’s business for you?” She asked while leaning against the counter. They watched Wi-Fi get more excited when the one caught his optics. “Find one?”_

_“It’s been slow but manageable.” Jazz smiled tiredly._

_Wi-Fi nodded wildly as he jumped cheerfully. “The energon jelly stick! I want the pink one!”_

_The two taller bots laughed at how excited Wi-Fi was. While the owner grabbed the requested treat, she snuck in another one for Jazz. The Polyhexian was too busy reminding his symbiont about manners. “What do ya say when ya want somethin’?”_

_Wi-Fi looked up at the femme while containing his giddiness at finally getting his treat. “May I please of the treat?”_

_“Certainly, for the cutest Cassette in Staniz.” She handed him the small bag._

_“Thank you!” Wi-Fi peeked inside and then looked up at her with confusion, about to be honest, but she smiled at him and winked at them. He thanked her again before Jazz pulled Wi-Fi into his arms and gave his thanks. He transferred the payment to her. They left the shop and returned on their trek home. Wi-Fi took out one of the treats and retracted his mask so he could enjoy it. He groaned at how good it was. “Try it! It’s perfect, and she even gave us another one.”_

_Jazz took a small bite of the jelly stick that was offered to him. “A bit too sweet for meh, but it is good. So, my Lil’ apeoid, what’s dah plan when we get home?”_

_“Hol-” Wi-Fi stopped when his antennae started twitching, and Jazz knew that something caught his symbiont’s attention. He flipped through the different channels before his entire demeanor changed. The Polyhexian subspaced the treats and started speed walking, but then the sirens blared through the city. Everyone paused in their tracks, some even transformed in the middle of the street. Jazz and Wi-Fi saw a lone shuttle fly overhead before laser fire from out of view shot it out of the sky. There were screams and shouts filling the streets as anyone who could transformed and fled, those that couldn’t tried to outrun the rubble as buildings and bridges were crumbling down._

_“Wi-Fi, transform now.” Jazz commanded as he started running. He held tightly to his Cassetticon even as he transformed. Wi-Fi didn’t see what happened next, but he felt the fear from his Host’s side of the bond. “No, no, it’s okay.”_

_Citizens were getting shot down from Seekers flying overhead. And just for assurance on the death of_ Staniz's _citizens, the next wave of fliers dropped bombs. The next thing Wi-Fi could remember was being sent flying from his Host’s hold. He transformed when his systems stopped glitching, and there was no sound. Wi-Fi transformed, gasping at the sheer devastation of his home. Bodies were hanging from lights, limbs stuck out the rubble, or were utterly obliterated. From where he was, Wi-Fi couldn’t see anyone._

_“Jazz! Jazz! Jazz, where are you!?” He looked around as his spark started racing when he tried to pull hard on the bond. “Jazz!” Fear continued to rise when the bond was a mere flicker of light. Wi-Fi used what bond he had to find Jazz, and when it led him to a large pile of shrapnel. He feared the worse and got to work to pull what he could away to find his Host._

_As he pulled away the last bit of metal out, he saw Jazz lying on the ground with energon leaking from his mouth. “J-Jazz? Jazz, come on, we have to leave. Please, I wanna go home!”_

_The visored mech coughed up more energon before he weakly looked up to see Wi-Fi looking down at him. He reached up to wipe away the Energon tears that fell past his symbiont’s visors. “Ah can’t my Lil… apeoid. Buil-building’ got meh good. Ya need tah go, leave meh here. Get yerself tah… tah safety. Go… go tah Iacon.”_

_Wi-Fi shook his helm in refusal and tried to pull Jazz out but gave up after the fourth attempt. He looked around and cried out for help. He was forced to stop when his voice box glitched. Looking down, he saw Jazz’s visors start to flicker. “No, no Jazz, come back. I need you! I don’t want you to go! Jazz, please, please come back. I can’t live without you. Jazz!”_

_In one final attempt at rescuing his Host, Wi-Fi tried to lift the heavy shrapnel off him, but it didn’t even budge. He fell to his knees as he hugged the black helm. “Please, please, I need you. Jazz, plea-” the Cassetticon broke down into tears._

Wi-Fi onlined from a restless recharge. It took him a moment to realize where he was before he huddled closer to the shell. He didn’t move from the spot before he got the seventh alarm on his tanks being low. The Cassetticon peeled himself away from the frame with a tired groan. “I should get some energon; I’ll be back.” He used his HUD to find the nearest Autobot cache. The mech didn’t like how far it was, but it was a necessary journey. He forced his legs to push himself up and tiredly carry him to the energon. This cache was located at the bottom of a lake. They had put it in a waterproof container before tying it to a buried hook under a large rock. When Wi-Fi pulled the cache up, he grabbed a couple of the cubes and the repair kit. Once Wi-Fi had what he needed, he pushed it back into the lake and made his way back to the shell by the time he had a warning on imminent shut down pop up on his HUD.

“When I’m done refueling, I’ll repair you. I won’t be able to fix your shoulder, but I know you would feel better to be all fixed up. You always took such good care of me.” Wi-Fi drank half of the first cube as his antennae twitched when his channels picked up on something. “A signal? But it’s not coming from me. Is it Autobot? Did they find me already?”

The visored Cassetticon hid the Energon cubes and threw dragged the shell behind the tree. He ducked behind one of the uprooted roots as the signal grew louder. Wi-Fi was quickly relieved when it was just some park rangers that sped past without a second glance. When they were out of sight, Wi-Fi returned to refueling faster only in case more came through. He didn’t why the idea of being out in the open as himself was more terrifying than being in the shell of _Jazz_. If he had been in the body, he would have had a friendly chat with those rangers and say he was just enjoying nature. But the thought of the humans seeing him as he was, made him almost fearful of them.

::Jazz, Jazz come on pick up Jazz. We’re worried about you. We just want to understand why you ran. Just give me a sign you’re online and okay.:: That sounded like Bluestreak. Wi-Fi knew why _they_ made him attempt to make contact because Bluestreak would continue to come until the other bot answered him. ::You know, I can do this all day. Prowl is worried, Bee’s worried, we’re all worried about you.::

Wi-Fi bit his lip as he thought about what to do; if he didn’t answer, maybe Optimus would see that he didn’t want to be contacted, but then again, if he didn’t answer, Prime would send out everyone to find him. If he did answer, then he could tell them he needs space, and they would leave him alone. But if he answered, they would just need a full klik of contact to find his location. He crawled over to the shell and grabbed the voice modular from the neck, holding it to his voice box. ::Hey, Blue. Ah’m fine, Ah just need space. Please tell Prime tah stop tryin’ tah find meh.::

The Cassetticon disconnected before Bluestreak could stop him. He dropped the modular as he laid in the shell’s lap. Wi-Fi could already hear Smokescreen’s comment about this being unhealthy to care so much about something that was never truly the mech he missed, but he can’t just let _Jazz_ go. He thought long and hard on what to do. Wi-Fi thought maybe he should at least tell Blaster, but then the fear of rejection because he lied to him told the Cassetticon that was a bad idea. He wondered how Soundwave treated his brood, aside from sending them on dangerous missions every now and then he never seen them treated bad. The mech knew _Jazz_ wouldn’t send him on half the missions he sends himself, especially anything involving bombs. Blaster loves his symbionts with every fiber of his being, and spoils them rotten. And on the plus side, Blaster was where the ARK was, his home. But, with Soundwave they had an understanding in regards to their positions in the war.

“Why can’t you just tell me who to choose!? Why did I run away? It’s because I was scared my friends would hate me. Wasn’t it? If I didn’t think they would hate me, then I would have asked Blaster to be my Host! It’s not like I _want_ to be a Con.” Wi-Fi stood so he could pace in front of the frame. “Soundwave is probably going to do some weird processor experiments on me, and make me forget you! I don’t want to forget you, us. But, Blaster is going to make me talk to Smokescreen about my past for stupid therapy. _Jazz_ , help me choose please! As my Host you’re supposed to help me and protect me!”

Wi-Fi stomped his ped with his fists clenched by his sides. His wings shook before he let out a shaky ex-vent. “Protected me and left me all alone.”


	2. Chapter 2

Song paired to chapter: [Warrior- Beth Crowley (Nightcore)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfBWhxi1WQA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=NightcoreWolfie)

I have a whole wiki page for Wi-Fi on my amino page: [Wi-Fi](https://aminoapps.com/c/transformers/page/item/wi-fi/z1oJ_RBcwI08Dxvqwa0Q78d6L5XWmLa6g3)

* * *

Chapter 2

_Connection establishing. Connecting. Connected. Signal boosted 200%._

He stopped in the middle of his patrol when his systems connected to a mysterious signal. Looking around for the origin of the booster, he located it coming from the forest. Cautiously, he walked into it, finding the reason for the boost. The mech heard a single voice, and he pulled out his blaster as he got closer. He stopped just out of view of the owner of the voice. Leaning against the base of a tree was Jazz, and he looked to be in stasis, but the small turquoise mech repairing his frame was someone he had never seen before.

“Just a few more screws, and then I can fix your servos. Primus knows how Ratchet would react, seeing your frame in this state.” The wire-thin antenna twitched before laughing at something. “I remember when we had to take you to a medic to tighten your digits cause you had so many gigs. I wish you were here to play your music. I miss your music.”

A few key words caught the spying mech’s attention. The smaller mech spoke as if Jazz was offline, but that was impossible; they had crossed each other’s path just the other day. He recognized this mech as a Cassetticon, but the way he was fussing over the frame and talked about memories was as if they were close. _Perhaps conjux? No, Jazz has never spoken of a conjux before. Where did he come from?_

“ _Jazz_ , what if neither of them wants to be my Host?” He tilted his helm as he looked at the yet to move much. A noise behind him caused the smaller mech to jump and out of reaction transform. The mech stepped into view and walked closer to the pair. He lowered to pick up the cassette and flipped him around before it wiggled out of his hold and transformed. His dark blue visors widened as he backed up slowly. “Y-You, but… but the month isn’t up yet. H-How did you find me?”

“Signal boosted.” He stood with the smaller mech dangling in the air. “Name.”

The Cassetticon shook his helm as he wiggled in an attempt to get free. “Put me down! Let me go! _Jazz! Jazz!_ Host help!” He tried kicking the mech before he was finally lowered to the ground. The terrified mech ran for Jazz’s body and hid behind him slightly. “Leave me alone, Soundwave. I wanna offline to be with my Host. I want to be with _Jazz_ again.”

“Cassetticon knows me? Jazz was not a Host.” Soundwave moved closer and noticed that the Jazz before him had no spark. “When did Jazz offline? Cassetticon's name.”

“ _Jazz_ called me Wi-Fi. And he so was a Host. I was his only symbiont!” Wi-Fi stepped slightly away from the shell and stopped his ped. “You wouldn’t understand! You stupid, stupid Decepticon! You took my Host from me! Leave me alone!”

“When did Jazz offline?” This time Soundwave spoke firmly.

Wi-Fi looked at the shell quietly before answering quietly, “when Staniz fell. He… rubble… I want my Host back!”

Soundwave saw a distressed Cassetticon, and his instincts were triggered. He went to him and hugged him tightly to his frame. Wi-Fi froze at the contact, terrified of Soundwave killing him, but then he hugged the Decepticon back as he cried softly. The spy could connect the dots on his own and didn’t push the mech any further on the matter.

“Coming back with me,” Soundwave said as a matter of fact. He saw Wi-Fi pull away to look at Soundwave with fear. “Host shell useable? Avoided coding too long.”

“It is, but the others. They’ll destroy him.” Wi-Fi was placed back down. He tried to ignore his coding, but it was reacting to the Host coding, trying to connect with him. “Are you going to hurt me?”

Soundwave looked a tad offended for being asked that. “Host coding prevents harm to symbionts. _Jazz_ -"

“He would never hurt me! But, we have fought for millions of years! So, sorry for not latching onto you.” The turquoise mech crossed his arms with his two side antennae moving back and forth.

“But did not identify as Cassetticon. Didn’t feel your coding, otherwise, I wouldn’t have attacked. Why not latch onto Blaster?” Soundwave gestured behind him with a wave of his servo. “Will protect you and shell until you are ready.”

Wi-Fi hugged the shell with his frame shaking slightly. Soundwave felt his existing bonds constrict in sympathy and understanding. He would have understood the mech’s pain on some level, but his symbionts seemed to understood Wi-Fi’s fear of losing the shell. Even though his coding was trying to connect with the symbiont and seeing the torn-up emotions coming from him, Soundwave respected his space. “Will give you time to think. Will return if coding takes control.”

As Soundwave went to take off, Wi-Fi grabbed his servo. “Wait, I… I’ll go with, but what about-”

“Follow in shell.” Soundwave watched Jazz’s frame rise, and he grabbed the voice modular from the ground. They took off for the Nemesis. When they arrived, Soundwave sent Laserbeak up ahead to ensure no one would stumble upon him, leading the enemy through their living quarters. He tensed briefly when he felt the black servo hold onto his. “Been in base plenty of times to spy on us. Why are you nervous now?”

“Cause Ah’m about tah have a new Host after vorns of not havin' one, and surrounded with Cons as me.” He spoke softly as if he was afraid of drawing attention to himself. “Are _they_ okay with ya makin' a new connection?”

“Symbionts understand your pain.” Soundwave stopped in front of his quarters, inputting the code before hurriedly pushing Jazz inside before anyone saw. Jazz looked around before his chest plate split open when they were inside the large quarters, and Wi-Fi jumped out. The Decepticon carried the shell to a corner of the room and covered him up with a tarp. “Will find a better spot for him. Wish to recharge and fuel? Cleaning non-negotiable.”

The Cassetticon gawked and crossed his arms in a huff, “are you saying I’m dirty?” He looked down at himself before looking back up with a sheepish chuckle. “Okay, I guess I’m a little dirty.”

Soundwave pressed a button on the wall next to a closed-door adjacent to the door leading to the quarters. Wi-Fi went to the open to see it was a decent size washracks, a bar hung on the wall across from where the water would come from, and then a couple of shelves at different heights were secured to the corner with cleaner and rags. He stepped inside with Soundwave following him. “Will assist in proper cleaning. Attachments sensitive?”

The shorter mech nodded as he was guided to the shower. He stood there studying the Decepticon, still not fully trusting him. Soundwave turned the water on slowly and on a lower pressure setting. Wi-Fi shivered but hummed in relief at the warm water getting under his plating. Soundwave handed the Cassetticon his cleaner and a clean washcloth. The visored symbiont looked at them before getting some of the cleaner and started cleaning his armor quietly. “Can we clean him? I think _Jazz_ would have liked that.”

“After fuel and recharge.” Soundwave took a soft brush and scrubbed Wi-Fi’s back slowly. “Life before the war?”

Wi-Fi stopped cleaning himself as he fell down memory lane. He shook his helm as he held the cloth close to his chest plate. “Not ready.” Soundwave nodded with respect for Wi-Fi’s desire for memories. They finished cleaning the Cassetticon in comfortable silence. When Soundwave shut the water off, he lifted Wi-Fi onto a counter before flipping a switch on the wall behind the turquoise mech. Wi-Fi flinched with a startled yelp at the sudden gush of hot air Soundwave was quick to turn off the dryer to make sure the Cassetticon wasn’t hurt. “ _Jazz_ never used the dryer on me. It hurts my antennae too much.”

“Apologies should have asked before turning it on. How did he dry you?” Soundwave inquired before Wi-Fi pointed to the pile of towels piled up beside him. He nodded in understanding before getting to work on patting him down. “Fuel next.” The Decepticon carried Wi-Fi to the large berth, setting him down before ejecting the rest of his symbionts. “Stay here, Ravage, in charge.”

Frenzy and Rumble complained at the instruction. “But Soundwave, you always leave Ravage in charge! Why can’t we be in charge for once?!”

Laserbeak squawked from her perch on the corner of the room. Frenzy laughed as he pointed at his twin. Buzzsaw joined his sister on the perch while Ratbat hung from another perch. Ravage jumped onto the berth and circled Wi-Fi with a hunter’s gaze. The visored mech backed up against the wall with his knees going up to his face. Wi-Fi never feared the symbionts before, but now as himself, he was terrified of them. Rumble and Frenzy jumped onto either side of the new Cassetticon with cheeky grins. “So, Jazz was always a Cassetticon. Must have angered your buddies for you to run to Soundwave.”

Wi-Fi looked down, refusing to look at the mechs. “They don’t know. And Soundwave came to me.” He moved away from them and went to get off the berth, but Ravage picked Wi-Fi up with his mouth and put him back on the berth. “Hey! What’s the big deal picking me up? I wanna explore.”

Ravage growled before pushing him back towards the head of the berth. Rumble laughed at Wi-Fi, “Ravage says you were told to stay.”

“In the room!” He crossed his arms with a pout on his face, though it wasn't obvious with his visors and mask. “How come none of you connected to my boost?”

“Boss blocked us. Says we’d ‘take advantage’ of your boost. Was it weird pretending to be your Host?” Frenzy, Wi-Fi was finding out, had little filter or manner of respect. Laserbeak squawked and flapped her wings. The red twin threw an arm in the air, “what?! I wanna know! How did he get away with wearing his Host’s frame without anyone knowing he was like us!?”

Wi-Fi started fidgeting with his digits as he blocked out the arguing then ensued between the two Cassetticons. Ravage often let arguments go on and then tattle on Soundwave. Ratbat was growing agitated that he couldn’t just recharge in peace for once without a fight. Buzzsaw, of course, defended his sister. Rumble made his usual threats to get into a physical fight. The Staniz mech transformed and didn’t move from his spot until Soundwave returned.

“Fighting will desist.” Soundwave entered the room with three cubes of energon. He sat them at his desk before grabbing three smaller cubes for the bipedal twins and Wi-Fi and filled those up with one cube. The other cube he poured half of it into a shallow cube for the avians, then sat the rest on Ravage's ground. And the final cube was for him. “Wi-Fi.”

He transformed at the call of his name. “I don’t feel like fueling. Can I just recharge?”

“Tank levels,” Soundwave immediately responded. The smaller blue mech sighed, knowing he would just be harassed into fueling, so he took his cube and looked at it quietly. The spy’s coding slammed him for not even considering that he probably couldn’t even feel like them. Convincing Wi-Fi to be his symbiont was not going as smoothly as it did with Ravage. “Different ways of fueling?”

Wi-Fi looked up quickly in a brief confusion before shaking his helm. “I have a mouth under here. It’s just… I’ve looked at cubes for millions of years, but now looking at this cube brings up a lot of memories. Does the pain ever stop?” Soundwave sat his cube down and went over to the sad mech and lifted him into his arms. “Why are you always picking me up?”

“Comfort helps emotional pain.” He went back to his spot at the desk and positioned Wi-Fi on his lap before disengaging his mask to fuel. Out of the corner of his optics, he saw Wi-Fi looking at him in surprise. “I do have a mouth and am familiar with voice modulars.”

The turquoise mech reached up and slowly poked his face, “weird.” Wi-Fi opened his mask and hid it away by fueling quietly. He felt his coding start to activate and look for Host coding to complete the connection. “I wanna get my things from the ARK.”

“Why? It’s not like you can’t replace them.” Rumble said casually, not understanding the sentimental value of those items.

“Because it’s _my_ things, and most of it is priceless Cybertronian music and instruments. I don’t want them getting tossed out.” The turquoise mech grumbled the last part into his cube before setting it on the desk once it was empty. His mask slammed shut as he looked up at Soundwave. “Now, can I recharge?”

The mech didn’t say anything as he helped the mech down. Soundwave went to go and continue caring for Wi-Fi, but he heard the roar of Megatron from probably halfway across the base. He frowned as a disappointed sigh escaped him. “Cassetticons free time. In quarters, quiet for Wi-Fi. Punishment for disturbing him, cleaning washracks.”

Hearing that the quarters were a danger zone, Rumble and Frenzy were the first to rush out to cause trouble. Ravage, to no one’s surprise, went to join their Host. The avians all decided to stay and watch over their new potential member. Wi-Fi was lifted into the berth and quickly covered up before Soundwave left with Ravage on his tail. The blue visored mech faced the shell of his Host and whispered under his intake. “G'night _Jazz_.”

“Wi-Fi, it’s time to online.” Soundwave’s voice drew Wi-Fi from stasis. He groaned as he rolled over before sitting up slowly. “Recharged for thirty Earth hours. Fuel levels?”

The Cassetticon was wide awake when he checked his chronometer. He whipped his helm to see that the shell was now replaced with a tall metal box with glyphs painted across it. “F-Fuel levels are fifteen. Why didn’t you online me when you came back?”

“You are dealing with stress. Recharge is always an optimal way to process stress.” Soundwave handed him a smaller cube of energon. “Once you are done fueling, you will accompany me to the communications room. I have work to do, and I don’t want you wandering around.”

“Afraid I’ll cause trouble like Rumble and Frenzy?” Wi-Fi teased the Host before drinking his fuel. “Why can’t I stay here?”

“I want to test your ability as well as get to know you.” Soundwave took the empty cube from Wi-Fi's hold. He lifted him into his arms before heading out of the room. Wi-Fi thought it was funny that Soundwave treated this as a tour as if he had never been here before.

“Soundwave,” Starscream marched up to the mech before stopping when he saw an unfamiliar mech in his arms. He pinched the bridge of his olfactory array as an agitated sigh escaped him. “How many times do I have to tell you to quit bringing in strays? You know Megatron hates it when you do this without telling anyone.”

The two visored mechs looked at each other before Soundwave looked back at Starscream with a stoic attitude. “Wi-Fi no longer stray. Megatron gave permission after Ravage.”

“Yeah, when you _tell_ someone! How long has he been here?” The Seeker waved his servos at Wi-Fi maniacally.

“Thirty-one hours, forty minutes, and five seconds,” Soundwave answered honestly, but Wi-Fi laughed into his servo. The Host tilted his helm, “amusing?”

The Cassetticon shook his helm, “your answer was just a smart aft response.”

“I see.” Starscream put his servos on his hips before looking at Wi-Fi with that look as if he was studying him. “Have we met? You look familiar.”

Wi-Fi was quick to shake his helm. “Nope never met ya… I mean you. Never… met… you.” He pressed himself closer to Soundwave the closer Starscream got closer to him. His voice came out in a nervous squeak, “host.”

“Starscream, desist.” Soundwave stepped back.

“Hm, fine, but _you’re_ telling Megatron before he throws a tantrum at you having another brat.” Starscream swiftly pushed past the communications officer, clipping his shoulder against Soundwave’s shoulder.

Wi-Fi sighed with relief as soon as the Seeker was out of sight. He shifted in Soundwave’s hold, trying to get comfortable, but thanks to his wings, it was nearly impossible. Soundwave finally opted to carry Wi-Fi on the shoulder opposite of his mounted cannon. The Cassetticon was used to being carried like this because he didn’t cling to Soundwave for dear life. “How did _Jazz_ eject?”

“How did he… ohhh, there was a hidden compartment under his bumper. He only carried me like that when we had to travel out of Staniz or when he thought I was in danger.” Wi-Fi answered with slight hesitation. “ _Jazz_ wanted me to see the world, experience everything with him. I guess the only good thing out of the war was that I finally made his dream of me seeing the world come true.”

“Never been to Staniz pre-war.” Soundwave hoped that was enough of a clue that he was interested in hearing about the city. The only response he got was a forced laugh, which confused him. “Staniz off-topic?”

The Cassetticon was surprised that the Decepticon offered to drop that topic. He shook his helm with a softer chuckle, “no, it’s just, you are the first one to ask me what my home was like before the war. The… The bots pretend that Staniz never existed. Who would have thought a Con cared more about my life than my own friends?”

“Soundwave, Host. Autobots forget what they know they did wrong. Council shuns or forces change on those that do not fit their mold.” He dropped the conversation when they got to the communication room, where Megatron was impatiently waiting for his arrival. Soundwave was setting Wi-Fi down when he saw the same agitated look that Starscream had. “Lord Megatron.”

“Soundwave, is that another Cassetticon? I thought we agreed on you informing me before just bringing them to the base. And where did it even come from? And you can’t use that stupid ‘came from the moon’ excuse.” Megatron looked like he was trying hard not to shout and smack his third around. He knew Soundwave couldn’t help it when his coding decided to act up.

The Host stepped closer to the Decepticon Lord while standing slightly in front of Wi-Fi. He knew how Megatron would react to the Cassetticon being not only an Autobot but who they had known as Autobot Jazz. “Name, Wi-Fi. Came from Staniz, stranded on Earth. Rescued.”

“Wait, Staniz? I was not aware any survived the initial attack. How did you make it off-world?” Megatron stared down the peeking mech. The more he looked at him, the more he felt he recognized the creature. “Have we met before?”

Wi-Fi felt if he was capable of gulping, he would be right about now. “F-Funny, you say that, cause some _just_ said that. But I feel like you would remember meeting me, right?” His audials twitched, and a new frequency was picked up. “There’s a human submarine right above us.”

“And how are you aware of this?” Megatron leaned closer to Wi-Fi and growled behind a sneer.

“I-I have a highly active c-communication array, a-and it p-picks up on comm frequencies. You’re not going to attack them, are you?” Wi-Fi stepped a little away from Soundwave but used the mech as a shield if Megatron did anything fishy.

Megatron stood straight with a chuckle, “we are cloaked from the humans’ prehistoric radars. They just see a large rock cluster. Soundwave, I will be in my quarters working. You are in charge.” As the tyrant headed for the door, he turned to point at the turquoise and teal Cassetticon, causing him to stop moving. “See to it he does not end up like those two terrors you already have.”

Soundwave didn’t reply as he turned to face the large terminal. He wanted to start testing Wi-Fi’s ability as soon as possible. The Host went to help the mech onto the console when he approached it, but Wi-Fi used his servos to boost himself up before smoothly kick himself onto it. “Would like help next time?”

“No, I’m perfectly capable. Am I really that recognizable? I don’t think I look like _Jazz_.” He felt Soundwave connect to the booster before connecting to the terminal.

“Speaking manners similar.” The Decepticon spy noted the hundreds of new frequencies that the terminal had never picked up before suddenly pop up. He examined each one meticulously as he typed quick notes of each one, ranking them from high priority to low priority. “Able to pick up different frequencies?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I can change stations, but what are you going to do? You can’t hurt the humans, Soundwave. I may be here, but I will not help you hurt humans or my friends.” Wi-Fi crossed his arms as his visors darkened. He wasn’t about to admit that he was wanting to Soundwave to be his Host. His special forces training wasn’t as active, and his symbiont coding was enjoying the treatment he was getting. “I refuse to get branded.”

“Purpose of scans vary. Some to update map, potential energon source, materials.” The Decepticon officer watched the frequencies change when Wi-Fi’s audials move to different positions. Soundwave gathered what he needed before giving the Cassetticon his full attention. “Wi-Fi wish to explore base? Ravage will accompany.”

Wi-Fi’s helm tilted slightly with a frown hidden behind his mask. “Uh, you do remember I’ve been on the Nemesis hundreds of times, right? And Ravage doesn’t seem all too… happy with me being here.”

“Cassetticons have passages only accessible by them. Ravage is just cautious of new symbionts, not just you. Rest of symbionts more surprised by the truth of origins. Rumble and Frenzy made elaborate stories on origins.” Soundwave admitted before helping Wi-Fi down despite the cross of his arms, showing his displeasure at being helped. “No longer Autobot, either. Officially neutral, dangerous.”

“I’m not a neutral, but I am dangerous.” The smaller mech started exploring the communications room until stopping in front of a large circular window. He put his servos on the cool panel as a school of fish swimming by. Wi-Fi’s focus went from the creatures of the outside and on his reflection with his side audials tilting down. “Do… Do you think _Jazz_ would have liked what I became? Sometimes I feel like he would be disappointed.”

Soundwave joined the Cassetticon’s side, resting a servo on his shoulder for comfort. “He would be pleased with you. You are a formidable opponent. No longer bears Autobot insignia and will not bear Decepticon.”

“I need to tell them at least I’m okay. Or they’ll come looking.” Wi-Fi looked up at Soundwave for a moment before back outside. He didn’t know how to feel about telling his friends the truth.

_If they are truly your friends, they’ll understand._ The Cassetticon looked around quickly before seeing his Host smiling at him. _Soundwave wants to make ya happy and keep ya safe, yet codin' already wants him. But what does your spark say?_

“Wi-Fi okay?” Soundwave knelt in front of the distracted mech. He looked in the direction Wi-Fi was staring. “See something?”

“M-My spark,” Wi-Fi stared at the concerned Decepticon. His coding was bubbling towards the surface to complete the connection finally, but his spark was still hurting and confused. “I-I want to go home.”

“Wi-Fi is home.” Soundwave was confused by the statement.

The turquoise rapidly shook his helm, “no, I want to go back to the Autobots.” The flash of pain and slight recoil he saw come from Soundwave caused Wi-Fi's spark to tighten. “I just want to make sure that this what my spark wants. And I won’t feel right with you becoming my Host until I give a proper good-bye to my friends. Please Soundwave, if you really want to be my Host, you’d understand. I _need_ this.”

Soundwave’s coding stopped bashing him for being a failure of a Host when Wi-Fi explained himself. He could tell that he was silently pleading for him to help him with this. He knew this would be dangerous for him just casually go up to the Autobots with Wi-Fi, but if doing this would help show the Cassetticon that he was serious about being his Host, then he was going to do it. “Will need to repair shell. One full day sufficient time?”

The way his visors lit up at the Host’s response pierced Soundwave’s spark. Wi-Fi jumped into his arms to hug the blue mech tightly. “Thank you, Soundwave.” The symbiont looked to see that Jazz was no longer in sight. He rested his helm against the flat chest with his stress levels lower than it has in a long time. “Can we get fuel?”

“Affirmative,” Soundwave helped Wi-Fi sit on his shoulder before signaling for the rest of his symbionts to meet them in the small rec room. He stopped just inside the room when he noticed that all of the gestalts were in the room feeling. The Host quickly pinged his brood to go straight to their quarters instead. The Decepticon gestalts did not get along, and it often resulted in fights breaking out. Soundwave couldn’t have Wi-Fi dock until they formed a bond, so he just needed to get their energon and then leave before something happened.

Wi-Fi didn’t stand a chance against all of these Decepticons, not without the shell to give him a fighting chance. He scrambled to Soundwave’s back as he peeked over his shoulder. Soundwave was filling up the second cube before he felt the tight grip on his frame disappear, and the shouts for being put down caused him to set the cubes down calmly. His helm turned slightly for his visors to catch the light, and impending death could be seen on his masked face. Wi-Fi was dangling from Motormaster’s servo and was clearly in distress. “Put me down! Let go of me, you bag of bolts!”

“Sassy, I like it. Let’s take it out for a spin.” Wildrider went to grab Wi-Fi from his leader, but the taller mech held the Cassetticon out of reach. “Oh, come on! I just want to play with Soundwave’s new toy!”

“I’m the boss; you can play with it after me!” Motormaster got in the car’s face before a blaster was pointed at them. Soundwave had his blaster, and shoulder-mounted cannon was ready to shoot both Stunticons.

“Put Wi-Fi down immediately. Will not ask again.” Soundwave stared down the Stunticon leader, waiting exactly five seconds before pointing his blaster at Drag Strip and shooting him in the leg. Dead End and Wildrider looked at the damage their teammate received before looking at Soundwave with death glares. Soundwave pointed at Dead End with a growl, “release now!”

“I’d do what he says before he pulls your spinal strut out from your tailpipe.” Hook made sure his team was well out of the danger zone of the Host mech. “Not even Megatron would be stupid enough to risk triggering _his coding_.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Motormaster growled before throwing Wi-Fi so he could start a fight with the Constructicons.

Soundwave grabbed Wi-Fi quickly, leaving the energon, and hurried to their quarters. He made sure the door was sealed before examining Wi-Fi. The Cassetticon held the arm that Motormaster had been holding him by. He whimpered when Soundwave lifted the arm carefully. “I’m sorry.”

The Host deactivated his mask to show off his frown. “Why are you apologizing? It is my fault for not keeping you safe. I will get energon once they are gone. Will you be okay by then?”

“Mhm. It hurts; I think he kinked some wires.” Wi-Fi tried not to flinch when Soundwave removed the dented armor from his arm. Laserbeak flew down to inspect Wi-Fi; she turned her helm to get a full look at the mech. The avian flapped her wings as she squawked. “She’s not going to eat me, is she?”

“Laserbeak was just saying that she wishes she was there to peck their optics out for hurting you. Which I highly advise against because then I would have two injured symbionts.” Soundwave carefully rubbed the arm while still cradling Wi-Fi. Rumble and Frenzy were trying to make a smooth getaway, but their Host called them out. “Do not even think about it, you two.”

Rumble whined, “Oh come on, Boss! They should pay for hurting one of us!”

“Yeah!” Frenzy stomped his ped.

“Oh, do not worry, I will ensure they get punished with this. Thanks to Wi-Fi’s booster, I found a strange reading in the arctic circle. And the weather reports say it will be snowing with fast winds; temperatures are supposed to be -76.” Wi-Fi wondered if Soundwave and Prowl traded notes on punishments because that sounded like something the Praxian would do if he was having an awful day. “Ravage, go bring some tools from the medbay. Ratbat, keep an optic on the rec room.”

The feline rose to his peds before going to an air vent and crawled through it. The bat took the vent in the ceiling. Rumble and Frenzy raced to a corner of the room, pulling out a large datapad. Buzzsaw was fine, just napping on the perch that was facing the door out of the quarters. The Host watched the mech in his arms relax in his hold as he looked at the twins. Something the two were doing instantly caught his interest. “Is that _The Adventures of the 13_?”

“Yeah? You’ve seen it?” Rumble looked at the other mech with slight interest.

“I used to watch that religiously with _Jazz_! Can the pad receive connections? I can make the quality so much better than five pixels.” Wi-Fi crawled out of Soundwave’s lap, kneeling next to Frenzy as he plugged into the pad to find the option to connect wirelessly. He started tapping a few things before handing the pad back to them. The twins reloaded the video, and Soundwave for once was surprised that something silenced them. “As long as I’m in range, the datapad will have better video quality. I think you can even pick up Earth channels now.”

“Where have you been all our lives?! Soundwave, don’t frag this up. We’re keeping him!” Frenzy was waving a digit at his Host while Rumble was already getting the show started. “Hey! Wait for me, loser!”

Wi-Fi shook his helm with a soft chuckle as he made his way back to Soundwave. The Decepticon was confused by the action, “are you not going to watch with them?”

“Naw,” he pressed himself against the blue frame as he started relaxing into the Decepticon’s hold again. “Who knew the big scary Soundwave projected so much heat.”

“And who knew the Autobot party animal was infatuated with cuddles.” Soundwave rubbed the small turquoise shoulder. Ravage returned with the tools, settling on the berth behind his Host after giving them to Soundwave. The Cassetticon sat up to give Soundwave the best access to his arm. He tried not to flinch away while his arm was being tinkered with. “Once you have fueled and recharged some more, we will start repairing the shell.”

Wi-Fi nodded his appreciation, “Recharge sounds nice.” After Soundwave repaired his arm, the Decepticon layed Wi-Fi under the thermal blankets. He wished he had gotten some energon into the Cassetticon, but Wi-Fi was already in stasis by the time Ratbat came back to say the rec room was clear. The recharging Cassetticon snuggled further into the berth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wi-Fi gets to finally clean the shell of his Host.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy Wi-Fi as much as I do.
> 
> So many of you here may not know, is that I like to pair songs with chapters. And, some may say that this is unprofessional or takes away from the fics, but I enjoy doing it and you don't have to listen to them. But if any of you like certain songs or want to make more suggestions, leave some in the comments and I'll give them a listen to!

[Dead Mom- Beetlejuice Lyric Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEct4Nod2iU)

* * *

  
  
Chapter 3

_The first thing he saw after his systems calibrated was this black and white being. He couldn’t see his optics because they were covered, but something in him said this bot could be trusted. The visored mech smiled as he helped him sit up. “Hi there, can ya tell me you're name?”_

_“My name? I…I don’t know what that is.” He looked down and saw a pair of small turquoise and white servos._

_“Alright, a name is what ya call yourself. My name is Jazz.” The visored mech was sitting in a chair across from the small mech. The unknown mech hummed as he tried to think of what his name would be. He looked around to get some ideas, but he shook his helm. Jazz chuckled as he took his servos, getting the smaller mech to look at him. “I can’t choose for ya, but would ya like some help? That's what I'm here for; to help ya and protect ya.”_

_“How come you talk like that, and I don’t?” He saw the small flinch come from Jazz._

_Jazz half chuckled as he touched his voice box. “It’s a glitch I was sparked with. Is that okay with ya?” There was no sign of anger in his words or his expression._

_“Mhm. I like it.” The mech across from Jazz looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before something appeared on his HUD. “Jazz, what is K...K...Ka-?”_

_“Kaon? It’s a city far away from where we are. Why do ya ask?” Jazz enjoyed this, he could feel his little symbiont in their bond, and he doubted he even knew it was there. He wondered if this was how he acted when he was brought online, but he didn’t have a chance to find himself like he would give his partner._

_“I hear something, and the voice keeps saying Kaon.” The smaller mech looked worried and upset, which sent Jazz into comfort mode. He lifted his symbiont into his lap as he settled on the berth. “Can’t you hear it?”_

_Jazz went to shake his helm, but a request popped up on his HUD. It was requesting permission to establish a wireless connection to all communications frequencies. He accepted it, and the Polyhexian sat up with an amazed gasp. “Wow, so many channels. But where?” The turquoise mech’s audials moved back slightly, and some channels were changed or hard to make out. “You're doin' it! You're boostin' my comm range. Amazin’!”_

_“It’s too much. Jazz help,” he clung to Jazz with whimpers. The Polyhexian nodded as he showed him how to turn his communications array off._

_“Better?” Jazz was a tad disappointed he lost all the new channels, but his symbiont was more important. The mech nodded with his antennae twitching. “Ya are the cutest thing I have ever laid my optics on. Do ya want energon? Can ya check you're tanks for me?”_

_The turquoise mech shifted uncomfortably and silently looked up at Jazz. He gave his symbiont step by step instructions on how to look at his systems. While Jazz continued holding him, the turquoise mech looked around in awe at the small space. “Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t expectin' ya to online so soon. But that's okay, mean we get to spend time with each other sooner.”_

_Jazz sat the quiet mech on the counter while he quickly made the energon for them. He handed the smaller mech, the smaller cube. “Ya remember where tah go tah deactivate yer mask?” He nodded before his mask shot open. “Perfect! Now this is low-grade energon, so ya shouldn’t have a problem gettin' it down, but I want ya to take it slow.”_

_“Is it good?” He questioned before dipping his glossa into the energon. Jazz laughed behind his cube. The mech on the counter took a small sip and started swirling it around his mouth before hesitantly swallowing it. It was a moment before his visors lit up. “It’s good!”_

_“We’ll work on manners after ya settle a bit. Have ya gotten ideas on a name?” Jazz leaned against the counter to be close to his symbiont._

_After the cube in the symbiont’s servo was empty, he nodded hesitantly. “What if you don’t like it?”_

_“Don’t be silly. I bet I will love it.” Jazz reached up and rubbed the small audials with a sweet smile._

_"W... iiii... Wi-F...fiiii. Wi-Fi, my name is Wi-Fi." He looked up at the visored mech for his reaction._

_Jazz smiled and held his servo out; Wi-Fi grabbed his servo with confusion written on his face. “Hello Wi-Fi, name’s Jazz. And we are gonna be the best of friends.”_

_“Forever?” Wi-Fi hugged Jazz excitedly when the mech nodded._

Wi-Fi onlined with purple being the first thing he saw. He had to reset his optics a couple before he even registered that he was in some weird dog pile with the whole brood. Rumble and Frenzy were sprawled out on either side of Soundwave, Ravage on Soundwave’s legs, and Wi-Fi was lying on top of his chest. The Cassetticon poked Soundwave as he started whispering. “Soundwave. Soundwave, my tanks are low.”

“Quiet.” Rumble groaned as he swatted at Wi-Fi before nuzzling into Soundwave’s frame.

The Cassetticon continued to poke Soundwave until a servo quickly grabbed his. Wi-Fi sheepishly chuckled when the Decepticon carefully sat up. “My tanks are low, and I don’t want to go by myself.” Soundwave nodded as he carefully peeled off the other two bipedals from his frame. Ravage was annoyed his recharge was briefly interrupted by Soundwave moving him off. Soundwave offered his arm to Wi-Fi, and the smaller mech used it to climb onto the blue mech’s back. “How long was I in recharge this time?”

“Currently, one in the morning, so eleven earth hours.” Soundwave felt the Cassetticon on his back jump off his back, running up ahead before his audials and antennae started twitching. The Decepticon accepted the connection request, scrolling through the channels until finding an Autobot one. “Wi-Fi, return.”

“But it’s one of my friends. Please, I have to get them out of here. I’ll be careful.” The Host didn’t want the Autobots to steal him away or Wi-Fi using them as an excuse to run away, but he realized those thoughts were ridiculous because he knew the Cassetticon didn’t need any help to get out if needed. So, with a hesitant nod, he allowed the symbiont to get rid of the Autobot. “Thank you, Soundwave.”

Wi-Fi ran for where the signal was coming from, sliding to a stop when he saw not one but two Autobots heading for the Nemesis’ brig. He wanted to greet Sunstreaker and Hound, but he remembered he wasn’t in the shell and had to hope his acting skills were up to par. He silently followed them to get a good scare on them, but also to test Hound.

“How is Optimus so sure Jazz is even here? The mech wanted some space; I mean, I don’t blame him. When was the last time he had a break from us?” Sunstreaker wasn’t known for stealth, which confused Wi-Fi why Optimus would send him on a recon mission.

“Because it’s not like Jazz to not at least check in with ops. Now quiet before Soundwave hears us.” Hound spoke in a hushed tone. “Still don’t know why Prowl put Ironhide in charge, should have bee Mirage or at the very least Bee.” Now that made a bit more sense on why the ARK’s resident, Mr. Happy, was here. He decided to make himself known before they got themselves stuck down in the brig. Wi-Fi coughed before standing straight with his arms folded behind his back. The two taller mechs turned, and their matching confused expressions were lowered to Wi-Fi, and they jumped back in surprise. “What in the Pits, when did Soundwave build another one?”

Wi-Fi laughed into servo before tilting his helm, “I’m Wi-Fi. You’re looking for Jazz?”

“You know where Jazz is at? Why should we trust you, you little twerp?” Wi-Fi had to at least appreciate Sunstreaker for not immediately coming after him.

“Well, you can’t, but up to you. I’ll just tell Jazz you’re the reason he’s still here.” Wi-Fi spun on his heel before running off. He crawled into a vent to quietly wait for them to follow him finally. When the yellow and green legs ran past him, Wi-Fi quietly crawled out. He giggled as he ran back around the corner. The Cassetticon just wanted to lead them on a little wild goose chase, just for a little bit. Wi-Fi hid behind the corner to wait for them to come back; when they came back with determination and irritation, the mech waved for them to follow him. “Come on before someone sees you.”

“This is ridiculous Hound, why are we still following him? It’s obvious he’s just distracting us.” Sunstreaker grumbled to himself as the three went past the brig. They went for another pair of stairs that led to another section of the ship. Wi-Fi didn’t know why he was following Soundwave’s directions, but he believed it was because his coding wanted to show he can be trusted. “Where is this?”

Hound didn’t like this Wi-Fi mech. There was something strangely familiar about him, but his senses told him to go with the Cassetticon because he smelt like Jazz. “Yeah, the brig is back that way. Why would Megatron keep Jazz here?”

“Megatron doesn’t know he’s here. I’m keeping him hidden here!” Wi-Fi spoke with a cheery tone before stopping in front of a door. He looked up at them with an innocent tilt of his helm. “He’s probably recharging right now.”

“Is Jazz hurt? How can we trust you that this isn’t an ambush? Decepticon Cassetticons aren’t known for their honesty.” Sunstreaker growled in the turquoise mech’s face. The visored mech dramatically crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

“I’m not a Decepticon. And _Jazz_ is my best friend! I would never hurt him.” Wi-Fi defended his Host rather himself, not realizing he was even doing it. He shook his helm as he grumbled, “stupid idiot.” The turquoise mech pressed the button to open the door before looking up at them. If he were in his shell, he’d lead them inside, but Soundwave told him that this room would be ejected from the ship once the Autobots were sealed inside.

The Autobot scout gave Wi-Fi a mocking laugh, “if you’re such good friends with Jazz, then tell us something about him.”

“He took Bluestreak to the Torus Heights for three deca-cycles of sniper training. They had their communications turned off to prevent being disturbed. While they were away, Jazz put you and Mirage in charge of ops.” Wi-Fi’s antennae twitched, and he whispered, “uh oh. Hurry inside before Megatron finds you.”

“Megatron? We can take him,” Sunstreaker went to stand ready, but Hound dragged the frontliner inside the room. The doors sealed, and Wi-Fi heard the faint swoosh of the room being ejected.

The Cassetticon spun on his heel and bumped into a frame. He stumbled back a bit as he rubbed his face with a grumble. When he looked up, Wi-Fi yelped and slipped on air when he saw the Decepticon command looking down at him. Starscream put his servos on his hips as he glared at the visored mech. “And what are you doing out here? Soundwave, I thought we told you to keep your pests on leashes.”

“Correction; desired for Rumble and Frenzy to be quote leashed. Wi-Fi ordered to explore the base.” Soundwave didn’t feel the need to tell them about the two intruders. He lifted Wi-Fi onto his back and rubbed the side of the mech’s face to calm him. “Suggest we continue to previous destination.”

“And the Cassetticon? I was not aware you created another one.” Shockwave stared down Wi-Fi just as he was doing to him. The visored mech wondered if the Decepticon recognized him like the others seem to just from looking at him. “Rare to see a Cassetticon in a Staniz frame. If I recall correctly, there were eighty-nine Hosts, but only one had a Staniz frame.”

Wi-Fi’s hold on Soundwave tightened at the scientist’s comment, but he let the conversation drop and just gestured for them to continue on their way. The smaller mech did not like that Shockwave knew who his original Host was. Soundwave didn’t need a bond to know that Wi-Fi was terrified, and he knew that the symbiont required comfort. He maneuvered the mech to his front and held him close to his frame. Wi-Fi held onto the dark blue mech with his face turned into his frame.

::I have told Shockwave not to tell anyone about your origins. Are you okay after seeing the Autobots?:: Soundwave rubbed the turquoise mech’s winglets.

::How does he know so much about Hosts? And I feel a little better, but they didn’t suspect me like the others.:: Wi-Fi seemed almost upset by this realization. He wondered where they were going or what they could be talking about. ::Am I allowed to be with you during this meeting?::

::It is not entirely important. Once the meeting is done, we can clean up the shell, as I promised.:: Soundwave explained as they entered the small meeting room. He sat in his spot with Wi-Fi sitting in his lap. The Cassetticon was quick to notice that none of the other Decepticon command paid any mind to him.

::I usually bring Ravage or Laserbeak to our meetings.:: The Host could see the confusion on the Cassetticon’s face.

“Now that we are all here, Shockwave has had something to inform us.” Megatron looked at the purple mech expectedly. The scientist nodded as he pressed one of the buttons in front of him. A holographic map of Cybertron filled the space at the center of the table. “Ah, yes, Cybertron, thank you for this wonderful reminder of the state of our home.”

Shockwave’s optic narrowed very slightly before he spoke, “thank you for your comment, my Lord. If you all turn your attention to sector 7B1A, there have been strange readings that are not energon. I have scanned the entire sector, and the only thing that I have managed to capture was this.” The mech typed a few buttons before a rhythmic beeping sound filled the silence. Wi-Fi practically launched himself out of Soundwave’s lap, but he stopped himself when he remembered it had to be faked.

“Sector 7B what?” Wi-Fi didn’t recognize the term.

“Yes, Sector 7B1A, otherwise known as Yuss.” Shockwave zoomed in on the map and pointed to where the small settlement once stood. “I forget many of your kind do not know the cities by sectors. I have sent drones to find the origin of the sound, but the signal disappears when we enter the ruins.”

Wi-Fi looked at the hologram in confusion on why his spark would be signaling all the way in Yuss. He offlined his visors to think about what _Jazz_ had told him a long time ago. The turquoise mech’s visors lit up when he heard his Host’s humming.

_If we ever got separated that we were miles apart, go to the city where mecha wear fabric._

The Cassetticon shifted in Soundwave’s lap, drawing the Host’s attention. ::That’s Jazz’s distress beacon. But how? He’s offline.::

::Ghost signaling. You have been through a stressful time; it is an instinctual reaction. Like the snakes on this planet.:: Soundwave knew it wasn’t real. If Jazz, the real one were anything like him, he would fight claw and denta to get back to his symbiont. And Wi-Fi’s coding would be forcing him to return to his Host, not trying to establish a connection with him. ::Would you like to leave? I do not wish to bring up any negative memories.::

The mech in his lap shook his helm slightly as he silently listened to the meeting. He found meetings boring, and a Decepticon meeting wasn’t an exception. When Megatron called a wrap, Wi-Fi refocused to his surroundings and noticed that Soundwave wasted no time to leave. “Are we going back to your quarters?” The Decepticon nodded in silence. The smaller mech wondered what got under the mech’s plating, but he didn’t push him further. When they were safely inside the room, Soundwave sat Wi-Fi down to get the cleaning equipment.

The Cassetticon went over to the pod to attempt at getting the shell out. He still had to get the shoulder piece, and he knew Ratchet would keep it until it was returned to him, well Jazz. Wi-Fi noticed that none of the others were in the room. “Where are the others?”

“Patrols,” Soundwave returned from the washracks. He opened the pod for the symbiont and carefully lifted the shell of the Host up. “Is the armor his?”

“Mhm, I… is it wrong? Am I gross?” Wi-Fi looked at Soundwave’s visors briefly before looking down in shame.

The Decepticon used the tips of his digits to brush against the white audials. “My symbionts said that they would do what they could to keep a reminder of me if I were to perish. I cannot judge you or any of my symbionts for wanting to keep your Hosts in any way possible. Would you like assistance in cleaning him?”

Soundwave placed the body in the washracks. Wi-Fi was quick to shake his helm, “I wanna do it myself.”

“Understood, call if you need me.” Soundwave retreated from the room quickly. Wi-Fi didn’t even have a chance to thank him, but he figured he could do that after he was done.

He looked around to figure out what to do first. “Right, can’t clean you without water.”

_“Wi-Fi, hold still we gotta clean ya up.” Jazz laughed as he tried to clean the hysterical Cassetticon. Wi-Fi was laughing hard and squirmed whenever Jazz used the brush to clean his peds._

_“J-Ja-Jazz tickles!” His cries of laughter died down when the Polyhexian finally stopped. Jazz picked Wi-Fi up and gently tapped their helms together. “All done?”_

_“Yes, yes we are all done. No more scrubbin' for ya, but now I gotta get cleaned. So, ya rinse off while I clean up.” Jazz kissed the base of Wi-Fi’s audial before setting him down._

_Wi-Fi did small circles under the warm spray of the water. Jazz chuckled at his symbiont, they had only been together for nearly a deca-cycle now, but with the bond it was like they had known each other for centuries. “Jazz,” the Polyhexian hummed in acknowledgement ass he continued to scrub himself clean. “I’m so glad I have you as my Host.”_

_“Aw, I'm glad I have ya as my symbiont.” Jazz gently rubbed the ends of Wi-Fi’s audials before quickly rinsing off. “Aight my lil' apeoid, time to dry off.”_

_“Then energon?” Wi-Fi asked excitedly as the water was shut off. The Cassetticon shook off the excess water before hopping out. Jazz scooped the turquoise mech into his arms, and carried him over to a counter. “No heat.”_

_The Polyhexian kissed the center of his helm before going over to the small collection of towels. “Arms out.” He returned with a few towels, and started patting the armor down. “Better?”_

_“Mhm.” Wi-Fi tried to not squirm when his Host gently patted his audials. They had discovered through Wi-Fi’s first shower that hot air blowing on his audials and antennae were too much for them, and caused the smaller mech a lot of pain. Jazz tossed the towels on the ground before helping Wi-Fi down._

_“Aight, energon next. Anythin’ ya wanna do after?” Jazz normally let his partner decide what they did on their free time, within reason of course. There were some things that were a firm no, like high grade and syk. Wi-Fi shook his helm as he went to grab the empty cubes from the counter. The taller mech took the cubes over to the dispenser and started filling them up while Wi-Fi struggled to climb onto the counter. When he settled on the countertop, his cube was already waiting for him. “I coulda helped ya or ya coulda gotten a chair.”_

_The Cassetticon nodded as he took a long drink of the energon. “I know. Oh, thank you for the energon. Can you teach me a new game?”_

_“’Course! And you're welcome.” Jazz rubbed the twitching audial with a sympathetic smile. “Audials still botherin’ ya?”_

_“No, I’ve been able to figure out how to make my receiving range smaller.” Wi-Fi had a proud smile on his face._

_Jazz gave him an equally proud smile, “good job my lil’ mech. We’ll figure it out together.”_

_“Together.” Wi-Fi’s smile grew into a grin._

Wi-Fi stepped away with a satisfied vent as he looked at the shiny shell in front of him. He started crying with a smile on his hidden behind his mask when he saw his Host and not a shell just for a moment. “ _Jazz_ , I almost have you completely put together! Soundwave is letting me go back to the Autobots to say goodbye and even get all of our things. I don’t know why the thought of going back to the ARK makes me nervous, but I think it’s because I’m not going to have Soundwave nearby. I’m ignoring my coding, but I really think I may complete the connection with him. Is that weird? I have fought him for centuries and could trust him as far as I could throw him, but now I’m starting to rely on him almost like I did with you. He doesn’t push me for information on my life and our history.”

Wi-Fi hugged the monochrome mech’s arm. He was feeling like Jazz would be proud of him for his achievements and taking care of him. The Cassetticon tried to not be a blubbering mess, but he was finally able to have more than a second alone with Jazz. “I miss you so much _Jazz_ , one cycle we’ll be together again. You were right, it’s not my time yet.”

All of Soundwave’s Cassetticons were fueling while Soundwave was reading a datapad. They all looked up to see Wi-Fi finally come out after spending nearly three hours in the washracks. The turquoise mech said nothing as he dragged his peds to the communications officer. He climbed into his lap and did nothing for the longest time before he threw himself against his frame. Soundwave felt Wi-Fi’s arms wrap around his neck and shook slightly. The Host said nothing as he slowly sat the datapad on the desk beside him, and hugged the smaller mech back. No words were exchanged when Soundwave continued comforting Wi-Fi in the berth. The Host knew what the Cassetticon needed, and like his own symbionts, he would give him the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz and Wi-Fi only chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art done by my wonderful friend Stormy: https://www.instagram.com/thescorpiondoctor/
> 
> So go check out her artwork and give her some love!

[Bend the Rules- Smash Into Pieces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRYksAgNDaQ&list=RDeMCHU6YtxLc&index=4&ab_channel=SmashIntoPiecesofficial)

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Chapter 4

Wi-Fi watched Jazz’s leg bounce with agitation when they returned home after being turned down because of the Polyhexian’s voice glitch. He could feel the frustration ooze from the bond, and he wanted to fix it. The Cassetticon crawled across the couch and climbed into the monochrome mech’s lap. Jazz was startled from his thoughts when he felt the weight on his lap.

“It’s going to be okay, Jazz, we’ll figure it out. They just don’t know what they’re missing out. You are the best ever.” Wi-Fi nuzzled into his Host with a purr.

The visored mech tiredly laughed as he returned the hug. “Thanks, Wi-Fi. I wish they thought the same as ya. I gotta find some way to get creds soon or else.” Jazz looked into their account for the eight-time this sol, and he hated to see where it was going. “Have ya fueled yet? Have I asked already?”

“I’m okay; have you fueled?” The turquoise mech looked up with concern for his Host. Jazz had been stressed since his last job let him go because his previous boss said patrons found his voice “Unpleasant to hear,” and his paint job was “an eyesore.” And the one that really got to him was what his boss said about his symbiont. Wi-Fi heard and felt his Host still stress out. “Wanna watch a holovid?”

Jazz smiled sadly as he pressed his face against Wi-Fi’s helm. “I’m gonna go for a walk. Ask around for local gigs. Ya, stay here, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” Wi-Fi was placed beside his Host. “You’ll be okay, right?”

“’ Course my Lil' apeoid.” Jazz kissed the top of his helm before heading for the door. The two looked at each other before the Polyhexian left their home.

Wi-Fi was starting to get nervous when it was well into the lunar cycle, and Jazz wasn’t home yet. He knew his Host told him to stay home after curfew hit, but he was scared without him there to protect him. The Cassetticon bit his lip as his nerves were shot, but he reminded himself that he had to be brave for Jazz. He ran for the door and had his servo just above the keypad to unlock the door when the steel door flew inside the house. Wi-Fi screamed and quickly covered his mask when he saw his Host sliding across the floor with bright blue energon staining the floor. “Jazz? Ja-”

“You didn’t think you could run from us for long, did ya? We don’t want to cause any trouble, but you can’t just come into our territory without paying the toll-like everyone else.” A thickly armored mech stepped through the damaged doorframe as three more mechs followed in after them. The first mech lifted Jazz up in the air by his neck with a deep growl. “Now, you gonna cough up those credits, or am I gonna have to send my boys?”

Wi-Fi tried to hide from the attackers but seeing his Host being violently attacked and their home destroyed, he felt he had to do something. He would say something to distract them long enough for Jazz to escape, but his voice box didn’t produce a single sound. “Hey, boss, look what we got here!” Wi-Fi screamed when he was yanked out from behind the couch.

Jazz and Wi-Fi locked optics, and Jazz was in instant protect mode when he saw his symbiont in danger. He curled his digits around the servo holding his neck and ripped the fuel lines holding him. The mech carrying him lost feeling in his servo as energon dripped onto the floor. “You made a big mistake!” He used his good servo and backhanded Jazz. The lackey holding the crying Cassetticon threw Wi-Fi to his boss. Jazz launched himself forward in an attempt to save the distressed mech.

“Jazz, I-I I’m scared.” Wi-Fi cried out in pain when the mech in charge violently grabbed the wire antennae on his helm. Jazz stopped in fear of his partner getting damaged more.

“Ah see, that’s better. Now you’re going to cough up the credits plus interest. And if you decide to do anything cheeky, then the brat gets smashed.” Wi-Fi dropped his helm as he cried softly.

“Okay, okay, I'll get your creds. Just leave him alone.” Jazz backed up into the kitchen area, not trusting them to hurt Wi-Fi or shoot him in the back. He went to the counter and opened up a drawer slowly. The Polyhexian grabbed a small box and set it on the counter. “Ya can have the rest when ya hand over my partner.”

The mech holding Wi-Fi looked at one of the lackeys and nodded at the box on the counter. “If this is a trick, you both die.”

Wi-Fi looked at Jazz with fear overwhelming the bond. Jazz smiled despite the amount of pain he was in. The Polyhexian didn’t want the Cassetticon to focus on their attackers, and instead of the fact, he’ll be back in his arms safely. The other mech opened the box and poured the contents out of the counter. He scooped it all back in the box, “it’s all there, Nex.”

Nex walked over to his minion, snatching the box with an evil grin. “You will have two choices before I give the runt back.”

“Yeah? An’ what’s that?” Jazz ground down on his denta when Nex tightened his hold on his symbiont. His coding was sending him warning after warning that his symbiont was in high levels of distress. If it wasn’t for the fact there were others, Jazz would risk attacking the mech holding his symbiont, but he didn’t want to risk Wi-Fi getting hurt.

“You work for me, and you won’t have to worry about paying for our protection. If you’re foolish enough to turn down my… generous offer, then I will make your lives a living Hell.” He lifted Wi-Fi up to his helm as he grabbed one of the smaller mech’s arms. “Now, what’s it gonna be?”

Jazz didn’t even hesitate on his answer; he just wanted Wi-Fi back. “Fine, fine, I’ll work for you.”

“Expect a comm within twenty-four cycles.” Nex threw Wi-Fi at Jazz and looked at the other mechs that came with him. He smirked at them as he made his way to the front door, energon still dripping from his arm. “Come on, boys, we got a few more stops.”

The Polyhexian held onto his symbiont tightly, feeling the turquoise mech cry into his frame. When they were gone, Jazz crumbled to the floor as he immediately started soothing the mech that was clinging to him for dear life. Jazz rocked back and forth as he checked over his symbiont. “Are ya okay? Don’t worry, Wi-Fi, we’ll get ya to a medic.”

“Jazz, what about those mechs? Are they going to come back?” Wi-Fi looked at his damaged arm before looking at the damage on his Host. “Why did they come here?”

“They’re apparently a gang in downtown Staniz. No, no, they won’t be comin’ back.” Jazz stood slowly and grabbed what credits he had left and hurried off to find the closest clinic to repair them. The Polyhexian stayed on the main road, not wanting to risk taking the back roads when both of them are injured. He held onto Wi-Fi as if his life was on the line.

The pair entered a run-down clinic in a somewhat shady part of Staniz, but at this point, Jazz did not care. His only thoughts were to protect Wi-Fi and get him repaired before securing themselves in their home. Jazz knew it was his coding on high alert, and it would remain in control of all his recent decisions until Wi-Fi was fully repaired and safe. Wi-Fi held onto his Host as he looked around at the dimly lit clinic with fear. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt ya. I’ll protect ya, I promise.”

It took several cycles before Jazz hurried home, not letting his symbiont down or out of his sight. He moved Wi-Fi to his back as he pushed the door back up against the doorframe. The Host pushed some furniture to keep the door shut before going to their small little quarters and locked themselves inside it. Wi-Fi climbed onto the berth, and Jazz didn’t waste any time to join his symbiont in the berth. The Polyhexian pulled the thermal blanket over their frames and held onto Wi-Fi. The Cassetticon was finally relaxing and pressed against his Host. “Safe again?”

“Yes, we’re safe now. Ain’t goin’ anywhere, get some ‘charge.” Jazz caressed the pair of visors on his partner with a relaxing ex-vent now that his symbiont was safe and was happy, especially after the sol they had. “Is your arm okay?”

Wi-Fi looked up with his mask deactivating to show off his smile. “Never better. Will we be able to go exploring tomorrow?”

Jazz hummed in thought before making a decision. “Maybe later in the sol. I gotta fix the apartment.” The smaller mech didn’t complain as he nestled closer to his Host.

Since the incident, it had been several sols, and Wi-Fi hated that his Host was forced to work with the small Staniz gang called the _Idealists_. They had a similar belief in purity like Praxus, but they didn’t like any oddities in Staniz. If anyone tries to enter the city, then they got punished. They also didn’t like Staniz citizens trying to leave without paying the price. And if you were really unlucky, like Jazz, was then forced to work for them. If Jazz refused to do any tasks, then Wi-Fi was in danger of being killed, and Jazz wasn’t going to risk that. Wi-Fi was riding Jazz’s back after picking up some rations of energon when they walked past an abandoned building that was boarded up.

The Cassetticon jumped off the monochrome mech’s shoulders and ran for the building. Jazz grabbed his servo to take them back to their original destination. Wi-Fi had noticed that Jazz stopped acting like he did before the Idealists, and he wanted his Host to be normal again. “Wi-Fi, come on. We gotta head home.”

“No, Jazz, look.” Wi-Fi pointed up the sealed doors with excitement. “We won’t have to work for those meanies anymore.”

The Polyhexian put his servos on the small turquoise shoulders with a sad ex-vent. He understood what his symbiont wanted and admired his determination, but he knew it was impossible with the number of creds they had. “Wi-Fi, how are we goin’ to afford buyin’ it? I could barely afford energon to last us till my next gig.”

“I’m going to help!” Wi-Fi clenched his fists with his visors brightening. He didn’t know how he would help bring in creds, but he was going to do it. “Then we can tell those big meanie Idealists to shove it up their tailpipes!”

Jazz covered his mouth with a shocked gasp that turned into a laugh. “Aight, aight, if we can somehow pull together enough creds to fuel us _and_ buy this place, then we can try. But what are we gonna have here?”

“Music!” Wi-Fi jumped into his Host’s arms with excitement flaring from his side of the bond. Jazz shook his helm with a chuckle at his partner’s strong will and determination to start something together. They looked at the building for a few more kliks in silence before the Cassetticon looked up at his Host with a look of innocence. “Jazz, can we get some energon?”

The Polyhexian snorted before nodding with a smile, “ ’course we can Lil’ mech.”

\- - -

Jazz was returning from his latest job when he was greeted by his symbiont jumping excitedly in front of him. The Polyhexian was obviously very confused with how excited Wi-Fi was to see him. “I know ya hate it when I leave ya home, but I was only gone for three cycles.”

Wi-Fi shook his helm as he ran off to the table that he had been sitting at before holding up a datapad with pride flaring up in his field. The Cassetticon followed his Host to the couch when Jazz couldn’t find the words when he scanned the datapad. Wi-Fi jumped onto the spot beside his partner. “So? Are you proud of me?”

“How did ya get all these creds?” Jazz looked at the smaller mech in disbelief by the sudden appearance of hundreds of credits in their account. He did wonder what his symbiont did while he was gone, and apparently, it was getting credits.

“I helped some nice bots around town! And they told me that if I found good enough scrap to the scrapyard, then they’ll give me a lot of credits!” Wi-Fi got in Jazz’s face with excitement buzzing through the bond. “Are you proud of me? And… and that’s not even the best surprise.”

Jazz gave Wi-Fi a look of disbelief, “oh? And what’s that?”

“You remember telling me about education and how a lot of jobs require it? Well, I’ve been thinking about maybe getting one in communications.” The Cassetticon climbed into his Host’s lap. Jazz was genuinely shocked with what his symbiont was doing, and he just lost his cool. Wi-Fi frowned at why Jazz was crying, and he was quick to hug his Host. “Do you not like that idea? I don’t have to do that.”

Jazz shook his helm rapidly as he took off his visors to clear his optics. He repeatedly changed from kissing Wi-Fi’s helm to nuzzling his helm. “No, no, I love your idea. I’m just so happy to have ya in my life. Ya did all of this just to help us, and that makes me so proud of ya. This could really help us with our energon issue!” Jazz scooped Wi-Fi into his arms as he hugged him tightly. “I am so, so, so proud of ya, my Lil’ apeoid.”

Wi-Fi’s winglets fluttered at the praise. He was so thrilled to know that his Host was happy with choices. “We could even have that building?”

“Almost Wi-Fi; we just need a little more.” Jazz nuzzled the smaller mech.

\- - -

“Sign here and here, and here, and right here.” A femme pointed to the spots with a digit while Jazz signed them. She occasionally looked over at Wi-Fi uneasily but ignored him until the Polyhexian signed the final spot. “You are aware that he will have to sign as well?”

The two looked genuinely surprised. Wi-Fi carefully walked over to the pair before scratching his mask with confusion despite the mask and visors. “I thought I couldn’t sign ‘cause of what I am.”

“You are his partner, which means I need all-party signatures.” The femme explained while Jazz lifted Wi-Fi in his arms and gave him the stylus. The Cassetticon signed next to Jazz’s name before handing the stylus back to the femme. She smiled her gratitude and sat the datapad to the right on her desk. The femme opened another drawer and sat another datapad in front of them before pointing to the different sections. “So, this form is just to say that you will get the building up to code with Staniz’s small business safety protocols within this timeframe. So, I recommend you hire an electrician and a small construction team for the best results.”

The Polyhexian was focused on everything that she was saying while Wi-Fi remembered parts that he knew Jazz was going to forget. “Do ya got any recommendations?”

“There are a couple local construction contractors. As for electricians, you may have to look outside Staniz.” She suggested before Jazz interjected.

“Shouldn’t electricians be a part of the construction teams?” The Polyhexian questioned as he signed the datapad.

She nodded in understanding, “well, they are contracted just like the construction crew, and they’ll work with each other.” Once the datapad was signed, she took the pad and stylus from the visored mech and turned to the terminal. “Alright, do we have a name in mind for the new business?”

The two visored mechs looked at each other before the Cassetticon excitedly revealed the new name. “Soundscape!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wi-Fi returns to the Autobots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am deeply sorry for being MIA for so long, I have been dealing with a ton of personal things. And have been trying to get back into the mood to write, so I apologize if it is garbo haha.

[If These Scars Could Speak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbtDPxKcijY&list=RDWXMge_6_3a0&index=9)

Chapter 5

Wi-Fi was becoming more comfortable with being around the Decepticons, well, if Soundwave was with him. He was still trying to find where he fit in Soundwave's group; never having an actual family before made it hard sometimes. The turquoise mech was having less random memory refluxes of Jazz. His coding wasn't lashing out as much either, even though they hadn't formed the bond yet.

"So, when are you and the boss going to do it?" Rumble asked Wi-Fi while they pushed a cart full of unrefined energon.

"Um, well, you see, the thing is," The pair stopped in the middle of the hallway. Wi-Fi pushed two of his digits together while Rumble crossed his arms.

"Well, don't you want to form a bond with him? Or is he not good enough for you?" Rumble was getting defensive.

Wi-Fi looked up in surprise as his antennae twitched and winglets lowered slightly. "What? No, no, Soundwave is a good Host. I just… I… I'veneverhadtoaskandIdon'tknowhowtoaskhim."

Rumble looked at the turquoise mech as he tried to decipher what he had just said. "Huh?"

The visored mech took a deep intake before ex-venting hard. "It's always been _Jazz_ , so I don't know how to ask Soundwave to be my Host. I never really talked to Rewind and the others about being a symbiont, and Ravage doesn't really talk about how he and Soundwave met."

"You could just tell the boss to be your Host. It's not like he can read your mind. Tell him what you want." Rumble gestured to the air with one servo still on his hip.

Wi-Fi scratched his faceplate with a nervous whine. "I guess, but I don't think I could handle being rejected."

"Quit being a scaredy-cat!" Rumble grabbed Wi-Fi by his shoulders and started shaking him violently. "I thought you were supposed to be this obnoxiously happy and confident Autobot, who led the special forces? What happened to all of that? Just because you're smaller doesn't mean you can just act like a helpless sparkling! You want Soundwave as a Host, then take your aft to him, and say 'Soundwave, I want you to be my Host.' Quit playing this "I'm too scared because I'm too busy holding onto the past" scrap!"

The visored mechs looked at each other in silence. Wi-Fi took in Rumble's words to spark and nodded with his servos curling by his side. "You're right; I've done crazier things before. This should be a piece of cake. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Rumble said with a serious tone before they went back to pushing the energon to storage.

When the two were done, Wi-Fi went on the hunt to find Soundwave. He went to the communications room, knowing that's where Soundwave would be at. They had to put the visit ARK on hold because Megatron had decided to push several large attacks to gather energon and materials. So, they had to wait for the Autobots to simmer down a few days before sending Wi-Fi in. Soundwave was quietly listening to Megatron rant about something while he was looking for something.

"Soundwave, I've received a notification for a signal boost. Is this you?" Megatron had even noticed that Wi-Fi was standing five feet behind them.

The communications officer looked up and around until he spotted the turquoise mech. "Wi-Fi, capable of increasing the radius of communications and frequencies." He answered his commander before looking back down at the quiet mech. "Jobs done?"

"Mhm, all the energon cubes are down in the holding bay." Wi-Fi went to the other side of the Host mech; he looked up at the screen for a second before looking at Soundwave in confusion. "What are you looking for?"

"Rock, Shockwave requests for experiment." He gently pressed his servo on the top of his helm before going back to work.

Megatron finally spoke up after mulling over what Soundwave had said. "If he boosts signals, is he capable of getting us inside information on the Autobots?"

Wi-Fi tensed up and quickly looked up at Soundwave with his closest servo pressing against the taller mech's leg. Soundwave simply nodded to the question. "Not trained for solo mission."

"Then you go with or send Ravage with him. I want information now on what the Autobots are up to." Megatron got in Soundwave's face. Wi-Fi wanted to push the Decepticon away from his Host— he stopped when he realized what he had just thought. The Cassetticon looked up at the two taller mechs before speaking up.

"I can do it myself. If Rumble and Frenzy can do it, then so can I." Wi-Fi knew that this was an opportunity; he couldn't miss this opportunity to get into the ARK and get his things. Soundwave looked down at the turquoise mech in a bit of concern by Wi-Fi's excitement to leave the Nemesis. "Soundwave, I can do it. If I could get out of Staniz alive, then I can do it too."

The Decepticon communications officer stared at the shorter mech before nodding. "Will allow. One day only."

"What? Only a day?" Wi-Fi went to retort, but Soundwave's slightly tilted helm was enough to put a stop to it. "Day only."

* * *

Wi-Fi was nervously standing outside the ARK in Jazz's frame, hoping this would be his final time doing so. He looked over his shoulder and watched Soundwave disappear from sight. He took one step into the base with his stress levels were too high and took several long strides to the rec room with a fake smile when he saw all of his teammates stop their conversations to stare at him. He barely had a chance to greet them before he was tackled to the ground in hugs. Their questions and greetings were overlapping each other while Wi-Fi was trying to slip out of the dogpile. Once he managed to squeeze out of the pile, he awkwardly laughed.

"Heya guys, long time no see." He flashed a smile as he smacked Bluestreak on the shoulder. "Is Prime here?"

"I think he's in the medbay talking to Ratchet. Where have you been, Jazz?" Ironhide butted in, ready to hear his friend's great adventure. "Some secret ops mission?"

"Naw, just… chillaxin' on the beach away from everyone." Wi-Fi joked with them before heading off to go speak with Optimus and Ratchet as well. Before he could even enter the medbay, he was pulled to the side. He looked at who had dragged him away. When his gaze locked onto Prowl's stern gaze, he knew something was up. "Prowl, sup?"

Prowl said nothing as he dragged him to his office. Wi-Fi was nervously looking over his shoulder, wanting to be back with Soundwave. Usually, he would make playful quips, but Prowl's stern gaze made him nervous. When they were secured in the Praxian's office, Prowl stood in front of the door and silently studied his friend. "You mind telling me what is going on? And do not be coy with me. I will not have my best friend be a danger to himself."

"I-I… okay-" Wi-Fi removed his voice modular and took a deep ex-vent before speaking. "I needed to just get away from everyone. And I've been doing a lot of thinking and reminiscing about my old life."

"What was your life like pre-war?" Prowl crossed his arms casually as he observed his friend. "You're nervous."

Wi-Fi snorted as he tried to think of what to do. He rested his face in his servos to calm down a bit. When he looked up, he saw _Jazz_ standing beside Prowl with an encouraging smile. Prowl's wing twitched, regaining the mech's attention. "I owned… well, it was more like a close friend of mine owned this music store in Staniz, and I helped him buy it as well as run it. We weren't exactly the wealthiest of mechs, but we made it work. I got a first degree in communications and sold scrap on the side to help _him_ get the building. It was tough, like really tough to survive some sols, but he lit up my world. He taught me how to function, gave me my passion for music. And when the Decepticons came through Staniz, he… he was crushed under some rubble." He pressed a servo to his mouth to hide the fact his face was twitching.

"What was your friend's name?" Prowl had that tone like he knew already and just wanted Wi-Fi to admit it. "You don't really talk about Staniz. Is it because of your friend?"

The visored mech nodded, "you don't understand, Prowl. It was Staniz! My home, sure you lost your home city, but you and everyone else talks about your homes. But when was the last time you heard anyone talk about Staniz? It just sucks that I seem to be the only one that has memories of it." He shot to his peds and started fidgeting with his servos. "And then on top of that being the best at special forces, being Prime's right servo, and on top of that, trying to refigure myself out is just too much for me to handle! I pathetically ran away because I was too scared to go up to Blaster and say, 'be my Host because if I don't find one soon, then I will die'!"

"Wait, what?" Prowl pushed away from the door with a bit of shock in his optics. "Hold on, Host? As in like Blaster and Soundwave?" Prowl stepped closer to his friend and grabbed his wrist when he noticed Wi-Fi was about to leave. "No, not this time. Tell me what is going on, Jazz."

Wi-Fi shook his helm, "no, I can't talk about it, Prowl. I'm not ready." He pulled away and turned his back to do his friend. "Prowl, you don't understand. None of you understand what it's been like. I don't look like a Cassetticon, but there is a reason. But you have to _trust_ me that I was never really happy."

"Where were you really? Be honest." Prowl nudged the mech one more time. Wi-Fi looked away with a heavy sigh. "Have you told them anything? Why did you come back?"

"No, I haven't told them anything. I may have been desperate to find someone, but not that desperate. I just came back to get my things, but Megatron is under the impression that I'm here to get information." Wi-Fi sat down with a groan. "The Autobots are my team, my friends. But Blaster isn't what my spark needed, and for once, I feel happy."

“Are you safe there?” Prowl pressed on.

“Had a close call with the Stunticons, but Soundwave kept me safe. He has helped me with my pain and coding.” Wi-Fi snickered as he looked at his servos with a smile. “He hasn’t forced me to establish a bond with him or tell him anything about the Bots. His only focus has been my needs and showing that he wants me as his symbiont. It’s been nice to have someone fuss and worry about me.”

Prowl looked at his friend in thought before sitting on the edge of his desk. “Who was Jazz?”

“My original Host. He never survived the attack.” The visored mech looked at his friend with a frown. “Are you upset with me?”

“I don’t know how to feel because it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought you had a Conjux Endura or was switching sides.” Prowl rubbed his face in uncertainty of what to do. “And you can’t bond with Blaster?”

He shook his helm, “my coding chose Soundwave because it decided that he was better suited to be my Host.”

A knock on the door drew their attention. Prowl spoke up, “yes?” The door opened up to reveal Optimus. Wi-Fi stood up and was brought into his commander’s arms. The Prime squeezed him before setting him down. “So, I see you found out about... Jazz’s return.”

“Jazz, we were all worried about you. Why did you run away? Did something happen? Where have you been?” Optimus immediately jumped into asking the visored mech questions. Wi-Fi looked at the Praxian before back up at the Prime. The taller mech noticed the tension and looked between the two. “Is there something wrong?”

Wi-Fi folded his arms before nodding in a bit of shame. “I need to talk to you, Ratchet, and Blaster. That’s it, though. In the med bay, cause here is too crowded.” He followed after the two towards the medbay. His gaze locked onto the black shoulder plating that sat on a countertop next to some tools. He grabbed it quickly and held it close to him when he finally had the last piece of _Jazz_ in his clutches. A cough behind him caused him to spin around with a nervous chuckle when he saw the four mechs he wanted to talk to.

“So, you mind telling us where you these last week?” Ratchet dragged Jazz over to the repair berth and started wielding the plating.

“I think it would be best to show you. Just know that nothing you guys could do would have changed my decision.” Wi-Fi started fidgeting before looking at Blaster, actually wishing it was Soundwave here. “You see, my name isn’t _Jazz_ , it’s Wi-Fi of Staniz. And this isn’t my body, I made a perfect replica of… of my Host.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wi-Fi is my character and his artwork was done by my amazing and awesome friend Stormshift (https://www.instagram.com/thescorpiondoctor/) so be sure to give her some love!


End file.
